DiBesAnSHK – Digitization Of Inventory And Quotation Preparation In The SHK Trade.

In the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) trade, consultation, stocktaking, planning and preparation of offers are very time-consuming processes, especially when upgrading existing systems. Each system must be individually configured and adapted to the technical conditions of the building and the habits of the users. This is especially true for complex and sustainable systems, such as heat pumps, fuel cells and solar-assisted hybrid systems.

In the "DiBesAnSHK" project, a tool is being developed that uses software solutions to relieve the HVAC (in german: Sanitär- Heizungs- und Klimatechnik (SHK)) trade of the burden of taking stock and preparing offers by hand. The aim is to improve the process of replacing existing systems and to support the energytransition  in the heating sector.

In the "DiBesAnSHK" project, market-available, low-cost mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are used to record system components in existing buildings. Machine learning methods are used to convert the recordings in a plant-configurator into planning or revision documents that are as complete as possible, such as heating plant schemes, for companies carrying out the work. This information is linked with product data from a platform in such a way that specific offers can be quickly created onsite at the house of the customer - also on a smartphone or tablet. In addition, the establishment of an interface is also being researched and tested so that the information obtained on the existing and planned heating system can be further used in common software solutions for mapping business processes.

Fraunhofer ISE is coordinating the overall project and is focusing on work packages for developing methods for image recognition and ontologies for describing heating systems.

The described tool is being developed and tested in the project with five representative craft businesses of the bad & heizung group. In the long term, this should result in a software product that addresses a large number of the approx. 50,000 SHK companies in Germany. The cooperation between craft businesses, researchers and development teams is coordinated by bad & heizung concept AG.

Special Software Solutions GmbH & Co. KG has many years of experience in the development of software solutions for the HVAC tarde. For this reason, it is developing the front-end configurators and the necessary database structures. In addition, it is also involved in work packages for the method development of image recognition and ontologies.

The partner Viscan Solutions GmbH is an engineering company for surveying services in the field of buildings, construction and plant acquisition, among others. The company has been involved in digitization for years and already has experience with image data collection using smartphones. The focus of the company's work in the project is on method development and optimization of procedures for object identification and processing of geometric information of heatingcomponents. In addition, the Freiburg Chamber of Skilled Crafts is involved in the project as an associated partner for the transfer of (interim) results.