Unit conversions Handbook

How to work with different measurement units

Introduction

Plutocalc Designer supports hundreds of measurement units out of the box, users can pick how they will enter the data or get the results. The unit conversion feature works with the API, the web version and the Excel Add-In.

What can be converted

Typically, most of the fields that display a measurement unit can be converted. The Excel Add-In will display all units in the same column, the web version displays the units inside brackets (example: [m3/h]), the JSON format will display a field called unit (example: "unit" : "m3h").

Supported units

A list of the supported units can be obtained from the button "Units list". The API has a specific function that returns the supported units.

How to use a different unit

Just replace the unit name from the template default to the desired unit name.

Examples

Original input unit was m³/day but the user wants this input to be in gal/h:

Q - Input flow [m3/day] : 22700

becomes

Q - Input flow [gal/h] : 22700

If the output needs to be converted, the logic is the same:

V - Aeration tank volume [m3] : 10

becomes

V - Aeration tank volume [gal] : 10

and then, after the calculation is executed, the outputs will be magically converted to the desired unit

V - Aeration tank volume [gal] : 2641.7

The user can also search/replace all units in the template before running the calculation. Once you got the desired template format for your working units, you can export/save the file for use in future calculations.

Superscript and subscript values

You can type units with or without superscript values, for example, m³/h is equivalent to m3/h. The software will detect and convert sub/superscript values to the equivalent in the pure text form automatically.

Subscripts/Superscript values are not used by default in the templates because there are some character sets around the world that make the use of that formats almost impossible from language specific keyboards.

Invalid units

Invalid units will cause the calculation to FAIL. The software will try to explain what unit was incorrect in the error/status messages.

The measurement unit I need is not supported

There are thousands of different measurement units in the world and we only included the ones we believed to be commonly used, sorry about that. Please contact us by e-mail, describe the model you are working with, the unit you need and list some literature references. We will make our best to have the desired conversions included in the next version of the software.