How to Use Virtual Engineer for HVACR Product Selection

Parker Sporlan's new web-based product selection program, Virtual Engineer, allows the user to size, select and fully configure products for Air Conditioning and Refrigeration applications. Virtual Engineer features quick selection of single or multiple components by template. An innovative dashboard and project system make saving, editing, and sharing projects easy. 

Virtual Engineer replaces Parker Sporlan’s legacy Selection Program. The legacy Selection Program was originally created to perform distributor calculations for internal purposes. Over the years, its use expanded to include many of the products Parker Sporlan offers and became an industry standard tool for selecting products in HVACR applications. 

By using Virtual Engineer, OEMs, Wholesalers, and Contractors can select the latest Parker Sporlan products with the most up-to-date refrigerants available on the market today. Users can select and size easily while out on the job site, in the equipment room or from their office. Parker Sporlan is committed to serving the HVACR industry with new and updated innovative tools to help users get the job done quickly and efficiently.

Virtual Engineer highlights 17 product areas with a basic template layout.

Product areas:

• Distributors

• Expansion Valves

• Solenoid Valves – Discharge, Suction, Liquid

• Catch-Alls® – Liquid, Suction          

• Suction Filters

• Discharge Bypass Valves

• Evaporator Pressure Regulators

• Discharge MTW Valves

• Head Pressure Control Valves

• Differential Pressure Regulators

• Temperature Responsive Valves

• 3-Way Hot Gas Defrost Valves

• Condenser Split Solenoid Valves

• 3-Way Heat Reclaim Valves

• Secondary Coolant Valves

• Liquid, Discharge and Suction Line Sizing

• Flash Gas Bypass and Gas Cooler Valves

Getting started - Background and the basics

With the use of an interactive template, all product areas are represented on the Dashboard when the user accesses the login page. The user can toggle from part to part from within the different categories, then is prompted to enter specific information when the part is chosen. Once a part is chosen, the Sizing and Configuration tools for each product appears. This feature is particularly valuable in systems such as cooling loops in which the optimal sizing and selection path is not intuitive. First-time users can now complete sizing and selection with minimal assistance.

Virtual Engineer allows refrigerant and product updates to become available as they are released. The web-based aspect of it ensures users are working with the latest version of the program. The HTML5 interface makes it scalable to the screen size being used. NIST Refrprop 10.0 is used for the refrigerant properties.

Popular system features from the previous Selection Program such as line sizing and thermodynamic reports have been carried over to Virtual Engineer. Thermodynamic reports have been expanded to include Pressure-Enthalpy, Pressure-Temperature and Enthalpy-Temperature graphs.

“We are excited about several new tools in the Virtual Engineer package, including the ability to size electric valves and mechanical valves in the same tool allowing for side-by-side loading analysis. The new software also allows for sizing of a wider range of electric valves including the Modulating 3-Way Valves, electric head pressure control valves, and Transcritical CO2 products. The new tools build on Parker Sporlan’s legacy of supporting the HVACR industry and providing new, innovative tools that help users get the job done.” 

Dustin Searcy, division marketing manager, Sporlan Division

Your step-by-step guide to using Virtual Engineer

Save design engineering time with these simple steps:

Step 1: Click to access Parker Sporlan's Virtual Engineer. 

Step 2: Choose your product category using the interactive interface.

Step 3: Size, select and compare products that meet the requirements of your application.

Step 4: Find a wholesaler, create your personal account, share your project, and/or download files.

Step 1: Access Parker Sporlan's Virtual Engineer 

This is what you'll see.

Step 2: Choose your product category using the interactive interface.
 

• Use the grey arrows to toggle forward and backward to find your product category. 

• Once you've identified your product category, click the image to load the sizing tool.

Step 3: Size, select and compare products that meet the requirements of your application.
 

In this example, the Expansion Valve sizing tool is chosen, located in the Expansion Devices section.

• The Product Info icon takes you to the Expansion Valve's product page. Each product page is specific to that product family. This page will include a product overview, specifications, literature and other product support materials.

• Enter your system information in the required red field boxes. Virtual Engineer will alert you if an incorrect value is entered. As information is entered, the available products will be filtered on the right side of the screen.

• You can also Save Progress and Reset Parameters using the tools in the upper right column. Saving your progress will require you to create a free account with Virtual Engineer.

• After entering your parameters, click the Compare button at the top right of the screen. All available options are included in the compare table by default. You can deselect these as necessary. The Compare button will bring up the Compare Table.

• In the below example we will compare a thermostatic expansion valve with an electric expansion valve. After making your selections, you can create a PDF report (RPT field) containing all of your inputs, valve selection, and calculated values or export the values in an Excel file.
• Clicking the Configure button will open an eConfigurator that will allow you to further define your valve and create a part number, relevant values will be preselected.

• The Save button on the eConfigurator will take you to a login page and the My Projects section of Virtual Engineer.

Step 4:  Find a wholesaler, create your personal account, share your project, and/or download files.

• Login or create an account to access My Projects. Creating an account in Virtual Engineer is free.

• Add your part to an existing project, or create a new one. Next create a system inside your project. There is no limit to the number of projects or systems you have.

• The next screen that follows is the System Dashboard. 

• Inside the dashboard, clicking View Detailed System Summary will create a PDF of all system conditions, valve selections, part numbers, and calculated values.
• The Where To Buy button will allow you to locate your closest Sporlan Authorized Wholesaler.
• Share Your System will allow you to share the details of your system with a Sporlan Application Engineer.
• The Thermo Tool allows you to generate Pressure Temperature charts for most refrigerants. It will also allow you to create Pressure-Enthalpy, Pressure-Temperature and Enthalpy-Temperature graphs.
   

Article contributed by Jason Forshee, application engineer, Sporlan Division of Parker Hannifin

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