An IFC Approach for BIPV Technical Pre-design Consideration

Abstract

The increasing demand for nearly-Zero Energy Buildings contributes to a broader discussion of implementing building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) on building envelopes. Existing research indicates that BIPV products should be digitally represented in Building Information Modeling (BIM) to facilitate the design process. The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) schema as data exchange standard needs to support the relevant BIPV use cases to enable the exchange of relevant BIM data between stakeholders. However, there is a lack of clear identification of BIPV use cases which are needed as a basis for assessing IFC's ability to capture and represent BIPV products digitally. The identification of BIPV use cases is also necessary for the proper development of a Model View Definition (MVD) for IFCs in the BIPV domain. This study uses the technical pre-design consideration as sample use case to demonstrate the processes of developing an MVD for BIPV digital products in the Australian context. A three-step research approach is employed, including a collection of use cases through a literature review and interviews, defining exchange requirements and proposing an initial MVD based on IFC4 ADD2 TC1. This paper contributes to the BIPV area by providing a BIPV use case description for the Technical Pre-design Consideration use case in the Australian context and identifying existing challenges in the current IFC schema related to representing BIPV product information.