Plant Engineering Infobase · Chapter 11 of 14
Designing with CAD
Goals: avoid design errors, follow review and approval procedures, request and implement requirements, create as few revisions as possible.
Overview
- Equipment design
- Calculation and design of equipment and machines based on function, strength, material, temperature, corrosion and wear.
- Plant design
- Selection, design and interconnection of all equipment, machines, piping and auxiliary systems required for a product.
- Plant operations
- "Running" the plant with due regard for product quality, safety, costs, and the use of personnel, energy and materials.
- Instrumentation and control
- Monitoring, measuring and controlling material and process variables in all process steps.
- Simulation engineering
- Simulating processes and plants on the computer to avoid expensive or lengthy trials.
- Safety engineering
- Protection of people, the environment, production processes and products.
Project stakeholders and escalation
The routing slip names all participants and their responsibilities: client, budget owner, person responsible for the project, project manager, project engineer. The control parameters are always cost, time and quality.
Escalation: If customer instructions conflict with your own quality guidelines, call a project meeting before continuing. If incorrect results are to be expected, inform your supervisors; they must approve the approach.
Checklists
Pre-check the project structure
- Correct, approved template used
- Paths to folders and template files are correct
- Layouts approved
- Parts lists and bills of materials available and approved
- Symbol library approved
- Piping specs approved
- Defined project structure in place
Document the result in the Project Setup checklist and file it in the project folder. If specifications are missing, mark all submitted documents "Sample for review".
Process flow diagrams
- Avoid scaling symbols; if at all, only for equipment
- Copy between drawings only with a base point
- Do not overlap annotations
- No AutoCAD text as annotation; every annotation comes from the object properties
- Every symbol comes from a standard; legend sheet available
- Have tag assignment confirmed
Catalog data and piping spec
- Size description usable as purchase text
- Use only components from the piping spec
- Handling of missing components clarified
- Are fitted bends and bent pipes permitted?
- Dimensions and purchase text match
- Catalog data represents real components, no pro forma dimensions
- Pressure rating and dimensions observed
Piping
- Process engineering requirements observed or requested
- Use round dimensions when routing; check after auto-routing
- Operability of valves ensured
- Installation conditions and supports taken into account
- Leverage and torsion avoided, tensile and compressive loads considered
- Approval obtained before creating custom components
- Routes defined, line status visible
Review
- Generate a test isometric of the finished line (tags, connection points, components)
- Use the Data Manager with check views: long description (size), tag structure
- Check bolt lengths after placing the first valves and flanges
- Customer specifications in writing, signed if possible
- Every line documented as a layout and an isometric
- Clash detection performed
- After internal pre-check, to the responsible person for approval
- No data passed directly to fabricators or customers
- Drawing comparison via DWF/PDF
Approval and submission
- Documents prepared for review: overviews, all specified dimensions dimensioned, clash detection
- Send only PDF for approval
- Send native formats and models only after approval
- Title block complete and correct before submission
Related offering
Starting a project as a team
New project, new team? Rent our training room in Frankfurt with up to 8 CAD workstations for your project kick-off, or bring your team to a common level with our training path from user to BIM project manager.
Overall concept · Coordination & drawings
Software and training for this discipline
Which Autodesk software fits – and where you can learn it. Overview of all disciplines in the overall concept, all dates in the training calendar.
Software
Training dates
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