P&ID is a very common term used in the world of process industries.

Working as a
Process Engineer in a manufacturing plant I could not avoid myself from creating new
and/or modifying the already existing P&ID to the as-is plant modifications. All the
Chemical Engineering and related Engineering students have also learned about it or at
least heard. As we all (most of us) know P&ID is Piping and Instrumentation Drawing.
A P&ID is a detailed graphical representation of a process including the hardware and
software (e.g., piping, equipment, instrumentation) necessary to design, construct and
operate the facility. As defined in the PIC001: Piping and Instrumentation Diagram
Documentation Criteria by Process Industry Practice (PIP) a consortium of process
industry owners and engineering construction contractors who serve the industry.
Like most of the industries in USA; the process plant that I earlier worked for also used
the PIPs criteria for P&ID. The document created by them is very precise and hence very
helpful for new guys in the industry. PIP also provides a detail list of all the standard set
of symbols and instruments that should be used.
P&ID diagram has to show the interconnection of all the process equipments and the
instruments used. It is critical to show the actual sequence of equipment and other assets
of the process, as well as how they are connect. During the design stage, the diagram also
provides the basis for the development of process. P&IDs play a very significant role in
the maintenance and modification of the process.
P&ID is a graphical (symbolic) representation of the process which demonstrates all the
piping with flow direction and instruments details with their controls. The equipments
also show all the operational information at the top or bottom of the sheet hence avoids
cluttering. All the equipments and instruments including pipelines and values are tagged
uniquely.
There are various software programs available today to create these P&ID fast and
intelligent. I have been fortunate enough to be working on creating the AutoCAD P&ID
package, which is very easy to use, save a lot of time in drawing and editing, creates its
own database and save all the properties for the assets. More information could be found
at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=8877989&siteID=123112

HOW TO DRAW ISO METRIC DRAWINGS

Drawing Isometric Piping page 1

Even before the days of computers, creating piping drawings has presented challenges.
Besides being able to plot where the pipe went and how it bent you had to draw parallel lines
to represent the outside of the pipe. No easy task!
Using CorelDRAW it is actually, very easy if you employ the correct tool. In my experience
that is the Contour function.
Note: Due to the amount of work covered this month there will be no rendering exercises.

Engineering drawing of a U shaped pipe

Create a 2 inch square by choosing the Rectangle Tool (F6)

and constraining it (Ctrl) while drawing and watching the
status line. Apply a 0.25 inch radius to the corners with the
Node Edit (F10) tool. Next convert it to curves (Crtl+Q) and
use the Node Edit Tool (F10) and the Node Edit Roll-Up
(Ctrl+F10) to break the nodes highlighted in black.

Drawing Isometric Piping - page 2

Break apart (Ctrl+K) the object and delete the small section.
Copy (Ctrl+C) the remaining shape for use in the next
exercise. Convert this shape into a front view isometric by
applying the following from the Transform Roll-Up:
Horizontal Scale 86.6%, Vertical Skew -30 degrees.

Apply a Contour from the Effects Roll-Up with the following

settings: Outside, Offset 0.1 inch, Steps 1. Pretty good so far
but now we need to do a little fix-up. Separate the Contour
Group from the Arrange Menu and delete the inner line.

Un-Group the outside shape and use the Node Edit Tool
(F10) to delete one-at-a-time the nodes indicated in black.
The result will be flat lines across the ends of the pipe.
Deleting the extra nodes all at once produces curved lines
that will require even more work to correct.

Drawing Isometric Piping - page 3

In the close-up, notice that the flat line across the end has
been selected (black circle) with the Node Edit Tool (F10)
change this line to a curve using the Node Edit Roll-Up
(Ctrl+F10). Then marquee select the nodes and smooth them
using the Node Edit Roll-Up (Ctrl+F10). Bingo. But what
would happen it the pipe went in the other direction and we
had to see the pipe opening?

First lets create the same pipe but going in a direction where
we will see the ends. Get the copy (Ctrl+V) from step 3 and
use the Transform Roll-Up to apply a Horizontal Mirror.
Then repeat the pervious steps needed to complete the pipe.

Create a perfect circle using the Ellipse Tool (F7) and the
constrain key (Ctrl). Duplicate (Ctrl+D) the circle and reduce
it as shown by dragging the corner handles. Align (Ctrl+A)
the two circles horizontally and vertically centered. Convert
to an isometric ellipse by using the Transform Roll-Up to
apply a 57.4 percent vertical scale. Now combine (Ctrl+L)
the ellipses and apply a -120 degree rotation from the
Transform Roll-Up. Fill with white and save this object for
future use.