Reliable process Doucumtaion

P&IDs are used by field techs, engineers, and operators to understand better the process and how the instrumentation is interconnected.

They can also be useful in training workers and contractors.

P&ID

Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams

The flow diagram describes the relationship & connections between the equipment, piping lines, instrumentation, and control.

The process industry uses standard agreed-upon signs to make the charts. The P&ID serves as a basis for understanding the process and is an initial step in planning, and plays an essential role in maintenance planning and expansion or facility modifications.

It serves as a basis for an overview of the overall process, planning, safety, operational, and risk survey (HAZOP).

Evaluate construction processes

Develop guidelines and standards for facility operation

Provide a common language for discussing plant operations

Produce documents that explain how the process works

Serve as a basis for control programming

Design a conceptual layout of a chemical or manufacturing plant

Create and implement philosophies for safety and control

Form recommendations for cost estimates, equipment design, and pipe design

What are P&IDs all about?

P&IDs play an essential role in the process engineering world to show interconnectivity, but they don’t necessarily include specifications. Specifications are usually provided in separate documents. But they are incredibly useful in many ways:

What should a P&ID include?

Flow directions

Computer control system input

Seismic category

Annunciation inputs

Interconnections reference

Control inputs and outputs, interlock

Mechanical equipment with names and numbers

Process piping, sizes & identification

All valves and their identifications

Interconnections reference

Equipment rating or capacity

Quality level

Vendor & contractor interfaces

Identification of components & subsystems delivered by others

Intended physical sequence of the equipment

Permanent start-up & flush lines

Miscellaneous - vents, drains, special fittings, sampling lines, reducers, increasers & swagers

In industrial facilities, complex and long-term planning is executed by various engineering companies, interchanging operational and engineering personnel who work in various formats, computer programs, and in different areas. Also, important data may get lost on the way, or become obsolete.

Often the 3D models are shelved since the plant does not possess suitable software for maintaining these models that are mostly kept by the designing companies. At the end of the day, the plant is left with only irrelevant and out-of-date paperwork, and the more time passes, the more difficult it is to associate it with the field and to update it accordingly.