Emergency Mode

 

ElumTools contains a separate calculation mode designed for emergency lighting only. It can be enabled and disabled from the Mode switch on the ribbon toolbar by selecting Emergency Mode from the drop down menu.

 

 

When Emergency Mode is enabled, ElumTools will perform calculations using only those luminaire instances or types that are designated for emergency use by instance or type (Luminaire Manager). These calculation results are visible in the visualization viewer, the calculation points dialogs and from the View/Hide Results commands.

 

ElumTools calculation modes are view dependent. This means you can display your Emergency mode calculations in one view (or set of views), and your General Use calculations in another. You may toggle back and forth between the display of General Use and Emergency calculation results by enabling or disabling the Emergency Mode on the ribbon.

 

When ElumTools is set in Emergency Mode, the Emergency Mode icon will appear on the right end of the ribbon as seen below.

 

 

Additionally, a large tool tip will appear when a calculation command is selected (for example: Calculate Room Workplane) to remind you that Emergency Mode is active.

 

 

Best practices for using Emergency Mode will depend on your preferred workflow within Revit. When developing this capability we tried to account for a variety of different emergency lighting scenarios, in some cases using different workflows.

 

Additional information can be found in the description of the Emergency Tab in Luminaire Manager.

 

Designating emergency luminaires by instance

One possible workflow for emergency calculations is to designate individual luminaire instances for emergency use by instance parameter. ElumTools provides two instance parameters for this purpose as shown in the adjacent capture. With the appropriate instances selected in your Revit project, select the "Emergency Luminaire" checkbox to designate the luminaire(s) as active in Emergency Mode. They will also be active for general use calculations.

 

Optionally, assign an "Emergency Output Factor" to adjust the lumen output by some percentage to accommodate light loss factors and possible dimming. The standard light loss factors associated with the luminaire type are ignored for emergency mode calculations.

 

When using the instance parameter approach, you must also select "Use Instance Parameters" from the Emergency tab within Luminaire Manager for the luminaire type in use. This is the default setting in Luminaire Manager.

 

With all emergency luminaires designated by instance parameter, enable Emergency Mode from Settings and calculate in the usual manner. All calculation grids in the current view will now display the emergency results.

 

Designating luminaires by type for dual use

 

A second workflow allows emergency use luminaires to be designated by type. Using this procedure, all control is handled in Luminaire Manager and the previously discussed instance parameters are ignored for luminaries of that type.

 

With the photometric type selected in Luminaire Manager, from the Emergency tab select "Emergency" (the default is "Use Instance Parameters"). By making this selection, all instances of this luminaire type will be designated for emergency use, but will also be included in the general use calculations. If you prefer to designate only selected instances of the type as emergency, it is best practice to duplicate the type and rename the duplicate with an emergency identifier.

 

An "Emergency Output Factor" can be assigned to account for light loss factors and possible dimming. It is also possible to assign a secondary photometric file should the luminaire type have an alternative source when used for emergency operation.

 

  • To assign a secondary photometric file, click on the folder button and locate the IES file with the dialog provided.
  • To remove a secondary photometric file click on the "X" button.
  • If you have Lighting Analysts Photometric Toolbox software installed (version 1.8 or later) you can load the selected IES file for viewing and reporting by clicking on the toolbox icon.

 

Designating luminaires by type for emergency use only

A luminaire type can be designated as for emergency use only by selecting the checkbox "Emergency Only" from the Emergency tab in Luminaire Manager. The radio button must be set to "Emergency" (not Use Instance Parameters) to select the checkbox. Using this approach, all luminaires of this type will be used in emergency mode calculations and will not be used for general use calculations.

 

The "Emergency Output Factor" can also be assigned to account for light loss factors and possible dimming. It is also possible to assign a secondary photometric file should the luminaire type have an alternative source when used for emergency operation (see previous topic for more details).