A Contribution to the Selection and Dynamic Configuration of Modular Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams

The chemical and biochemical industry is one of the strongly competitive industries that necessitate accelerated plant design. In module-based plant design suitable P& ID modules are selected from a P& ID module database instead of tailor-made design so that engineering work is reused, also a configuration of the P& ID modules selected is needed. Although of high importance in the module-based planning process, an automatic configuration approach for dynamic generation of modular P& IDs has not been developed yet. Therefore, it is the aim of this work to develop an approach for the selection and dynamic generation of modular P& IDs. The rules governing the arrangement of P& ID modules selected relative to one another and their graphical relations are stored in a flexible heuristics database utilizing generic functions, inspired by Allen's interval Algebra. A set of possible arrangements are topologically sorted according to sorting algorithms from which the modular P& Id is derived, and the connectivity with the corresponding process units from the process flow diagrams. The generated representative modular P& ID is illustrated in a sequential order based on a script developed in cooperation with Siemens AG. The script is used to demonstrate modular P& IDs on P& ID flowsheets. This work delivers a platform for the generation of modular P& IDs. It is shown, that the modular P& ID generated displays reduced space requirements on P& ID flowsheets and flexibility in exchanging P& ID modules. The developed approach conceives dynamic generation of modular P& IDs, regardless of CAE tool used.