IfcElementComponent

Definition from IAI: An element component is a representation for minor items included in, added to or connecting to or between elements, which usually are not of interest from the overall building structure viewpoint. However, these small parts may have vital and load carrying functions within the construction. These items do not provide any actual space boundaries. Typical examples of IfcElementComponents include different kinds of fasteners and various accessories.

HISTORY New entity in IFC Release 2x2

Geometry Use Definitions:

The geometric representation of IfcElementComponent is given by the IfcProductDefinitionShape, allowing multiple geometric representations. Included are:

Local Placement
The local placement for IfcElementComponent is defined in its supertype IfcProduct. It is defined by the IfcLocalPlacement, which defines the local coordinate system that is referenced by all geometric representations.

The PlacementRelTo relationship of IfcLocalPlacement shall point (if given) to the local placement of the same IfcElement or IfcElementAssembly, which is used in the Decomposes inverse attribute, i.e. the local placement is defined relative to the local placement of the element or element assembly in which the component is contained.
If the relative placement is not used, the absolute placement is defined within the world coordinate system.

Surface Model Representation
Any IfcElementComponent (if no further constraints are defined at the level of its subtypes) may be represented as a single or multiple surface models, based on either shell or face based models. It is ensured by assigning the value 'SurfaceModel' to the RepresentationType attribute of IfcShapeRepresentation. In some cases it may be useful to also expose a simple representation as a bounding box representation of the same complex shape.

Brep Representation
Any IfcElementComponent (if no further constraints are defined at the level of its subtypes) may be represented as a single or multiple Boundary Representation elements (which are restricted to faceted Brep with or without voids). The Brep representation allows for the representation of complex element shape. It is ensured by assigning the value 'Brep' to the RepresentationType attribute of IfcShapeRepresentation. In some cases it may be useful to also expose a simple representation as a bounding box representation of the same complex shape.

Mapped Representation
The mapped item, IfcMappedItem, should be used if appropriate as it allows for reusing the geometry definition of the equipment type at occurrences of the same equipement type. In this case the IfcShapeRepresentation.RepresentationType = 'MappedRepresentation' is used.

EXPRESS specification:

ENTITY IfcElementComponent

ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF

(ONEOF(IfcFastener, IfcDiscreteAccessory))

SUBTYPE OF (

IfcElement);

END_ENTITY;

Inheritance graph

ENTITY IfcElementComponent;

ENTITY IfcRoot;

GlobalId

IfcGloballyUniqueId;

OwnerHistory

IfcOwnerHistory;

Name

OPTIONAL IfcLabel;

Description

OPTIONAL IfcText;

ENTITY IfcObjectDefinition;

INVERSE

HasAssignments

SET OF IfcRelAssigns FOR RelatedObjects;

IsDecomposedBy

SET OF IfcRelDecomposes FOR RelatingObject;

Decomposes

SET [0:1] OF IfcRelDecomposes FOR RelatedObjects;

HasAssociations

SET OF IfcRelAssociates FOR RelatedObjects;

ENTITY IfcObject;

ObjectType

OPTIONAL IfcLabel;

INVERSE

IsDefinedBy

SET OF IfcRelDefines FOR RelatedObjects;

ENTITY IfcProduct;

ObjectPlacement

OPTIONAL IfcObjectPlacement;

Representation

OPTIONAL IfcProductRepresentation;

INVERSE

ReferencedBy

SET OF IfcRelAssignsToProduct FOR RelatingProduct;

ENTITY IfcElement;

Tag

OPTIONAL IfcIdentifier;

INVERSE

FillsVoids

SET [0:1] OF IfcRelFillsElement FOR RelatedBuildingElement;

ConnectedTo

SET OF IfcRelConnectsElements FOR RelatingElement;

HasCoverings

SET OF IfcRelCoversBldgElements FOR RelatingBuildingElement;

HasProjections

SET OF IfcRelProjectsElement FOR RelatingElement;

HasStructuralMember

SET OF IfcRelConnectsStructuralElement FOR RelatingElement;

ReferencedInStructures

SET OF IfcRelReferencedInSpatialStructure FOR RelatedElements;

HasPorts

SET OF IfcRelConnectsPortToElement FOR RelatedElement;

HasOpenings

SET OF IfcRelVoidsElement FOR RelatingBuildingElement;

IsConnectionRealization

SET OF IfcRelConnectsWithRealizingElements FOR RealizingElements;

ProvidesBoundaries

SET OF IfcRelSpaceBoundary FOR RelatedBuildingElement;

ConnectedFrom

SET OF IfcRelConnectsElements FOR RelatedElement;

ContainedInStructure

SET [0:1] OF IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure FOR RelatedElements;

ENTITY IfcElementComponent;

END_ENTITY;