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PDMS EQUIPMENT DESIGN

Equipment Design
Equipment may be designed from scratch or standard equipment may be selected and bought for use. If the
equipment is custom designed, its assembly and component drawings must be prepared. Whether equipment is
standard or custom designed, its overall dimensions are very important in PDMS. In PDMS equipment design,
modeling equipment and instruments need not be precise in internal details. But the space they occupy and space
allowance for inspection and maintenance must be adequate to avoid clashes. The space requirement of standard
equipments and instruments is made up of the bounding box and maintenance space. The bounding box is the
minimum space required for installing equipment. Fig. 1a shows the bounding box of equipment by indicating
the principal dimensions of width, height and depth. Fig. 1b shows the bounding box of a piping system. Think
of the bounding box as the package space without clearance: the box determined by the limits of dimensions in
the principal directions or axes. PDMS tracks this space to determine possible clashes. The maintenance space is
additional to the bounding box space and is determined by designers based on appropriate standards from
organizations such as ISO (International Standards Organization), API (American Petroleum Institute), ASME
(American Society of Mechanical engineers), SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers), etc.

a) Equipment

b) Small plann
Fig. 1: Bounding Boxes

Fig. 2 shows the main components of a pump while Fig. 3 show the main parts of horizontal vessels.

Fig. 2: Centrifugal pump main components Fig. 3a) Horizontal vessel with repad

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Fig. 3b) Horizontal vessel

For equipment and instruments, we must make reference to vendors’ data to evaluate the bounding box
dimensions. Note that maintenance space allowance should include withdrawal length of shaft, tube bundles for
heat exchangers, or other parts during servicing. The most common types of equipment found in industrial
piping systems are tanks, vessels, and pumps. Tanks are containers used to store fluid in a piping system. A
vessel is a tank that is able to withstand elevated pressure. Pumps are used to move fluid through pipes to tanks
and vessels. In PDMS equipment design, equipment outline dimensions must be accurate and nozzle sizes,
rating and locations must be accurate too. Construction problems are likely to arise if these are not checked and
errors corrected.

PDMS Design Databases

Two types of databases exist
in PDMS Equipment Design
module. These are the design
and database hierarchies. The
Equipment design hierarchy
has three (3) levels of
Equipment, Sub-equipment
and primitive. This hierarchy
determines what can be
modified in design actions. At
the equipment level, only the
attributes of equipment can be
modified. At the sub-
equipment level, the attributes
of sub-equipment can be
modified. At the primitive
level, the attributes of a
primitive can be modified.
The equipment level is the top
level while the primitive level
is the lowest level. The
primitive level gives the most
flexibility in modifying
design attributes. The
database hierarchies have
been discussed earlier, so you
may want to review the notes.

Fig. 4: Equipment Design View

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PDMS has design applications for several engineering disciplines. Equipment Design is one application that cut
across all disciplines. Fig. 4 shows the Equipment Design view. The standard menu has options such as Design,
Display, Query, Settings, Utilities, etc.

Design: Access different design application modules, load and save work, end current working
session, etc.
Display: Create 3D and 2D graphic views, provide access to database navigation, save or restore
a view, etc.
Query: Investigate attribute values of current element, examine catalog data for current element
and work sessions, determine distance between points, etc.
Settings: Set up systems parameters, design specifications, clash check criteria, 3D view
parameters, etc.
Utilities: Access routine for data consistency check, clash checks, list composition, define rules,
determine claimed elements in multi-write database

Equipment Design with Primitives

Equipment may be designed by assembling primitives or by customizing a standard equipment template of the
appropriate type. Building equipment from primitives is the basic approach but sometimes a lot of effort and
time may be saved by modifying standard equipments. PDMS functions are executed with forms. Element
attributes have been parametized on these forms, so you will be entering parameter values on forms for
primitives, equipment, etc

The first thing to do in equipment design with primitives is to study equipment and determine the types and
number of primitives in it. Fig. 5. shows a vessel and the primitives necessary for its design. Sometimes,
advantage can be made of symmetry in equipment so that one type of primitive is created once and duplicated.
It is advisable to start with the primitive bearing the equipment origin when building the equipment.

Fig. 5: Vessel primitives

In Fig. 8: the vessel consists of:

S/N Primitive Type Count Description

1 Cylinder 1 Main body
2 Dish 2 Vessel heads
3 Nozzle 1 Piping connector
4 Boxes 2 Saddles: supports for vessel

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Primitive PPoints
Every PDMS primitive has some reference points known as Ppoints. The Ppoints are numbered as Po, P1, P2, etc.
Po is the default origin. At creation, the position of Po
is the origin of the primitive. Fig. 6 shows a cylinder
with some attributes and the Ppoints. A cylinder, for
example, has three Ppoints Po, P1, P2 as shown in Fig.
9. Po is used for general positioning while P1, P2 are
often for changing orientation, relative positioning
and connecting to other primitives. Many primitives
have more than three Ppoints, so spend some time
exploring them. Ppoints are like snap points in
AutoCAD object snaps.

Fig. 6: Cylinder and Ppoints Fig. 7: Cone primitive form

Axes of Primitive
Each primitive has a local coordinate system with its origin at Po, see Fig. 6. Its orientation is aligned with one
of the local axes that must be selected at creation time. Changes can be made later to the orientation of axis and
position.

Primitive Form
Each primitive has an associated form that has textboxes for entering values for the parameters of the primitive
and its origin coordinates. Also, it allows the primitive to be given a name by the designer. Fig. 10 shows the
cone primitive form. The origin coordinates of a primitive are specified either wrt (with respect to) the
equipment (relative coordinate system) or wrt the world (absolute coordinate system). The design must be very
careful with the choice of coordinate system.

Imperial Units
The training project is done in Imperial Units System that is still popular in the USA. Equipment dimensions are
given in Architectural Unit Style. Note that extensive use is made of fractions in this unit style, so you may want
to review your Math in fractions, especially the addition and subtraction of fractions.

Equipment Design with Template

Equipment can be designed by using the standard equipment template with parameters on forms. In the Utility
menu, there is a routine for standard equipment templates. The templates provide models of different equipment.
Each equipment model has geometric and other attributes presented on a form. The form provides access to
default equipments categorized into vertical vessel, horizontal vessel, heat exchangers, storage tanks, air coolers
(fans) and pumps. Each default equipment form has drawings of the equipment and associated parameters that
have no values. By invoking the form and filling in values for the parameters, a basic equipment of the desired
type is created. Generally, some customization is needed on the basic equipment after creation. For example, the
basic equipment may need additional nozzles, access-holes, etc or orientating nozzles at different angles to
arrive at the desired design.

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User Equipment
Utilities form

Create Standard
Equipment from

Fig. 8: Accessing Create Standard Equipment form

Fig. 8 shows the User Equipment Utilities form that gives access to the Create Standard Equipment form
through the Create option. This form offers two list boxes: the “Create list box” and the “Of type list” box. The
equipment type is selected from the “Create list box” while the design type is selected from the “Of type list”
box. In this example, a horizontal vessel (Fig. 9) is selected as equipment type. The design type is that with
dished ends. Fig. 9 shows the design form for a horizontal vessel with dished ends. Values for the name,
position, and dimension attributes
are to be provided. To avoid
errors, write out each parameter
and its value on a rough paper
before entering them into the
design form.

Populating Form Parameters

In Fig. 12, the form has
parameters A, B, C, …H to be
filled. To minimize errors first
identify each parameter value on
the drawings and write the form
parameters against the values on
the drawing. Be sure to identify
all the parameters before entering
them on the form. Once all the
parameters in the form have been
populated, then apply the form.

Equipment Orientation
In Fig. 12: the axis of the
equipment is parallel to the North
(Y) axis. This is the reference
axis and is the default for most
equipment. Be sure to specify the
proper orientation for each
equipment you model.

Fig 9: Storage vessel with dished ends parameter form

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Equipment Design Lab Setup

Select Equipment Design Module and Design Hierarchy

1. Design > Equipment
2. Select Element for design hierarchy

Create Database Hierarchy

1. Create a site for a project
2. Create a zone for equipment
3. Create an equipment

a. Create > Site (Specify name and origin)

b. Create > Zone (Specify name and origin)
c. Create > Equipment (Specify name and origin)

Hint: Use WCS and set Site and Zone origins at (0, 0, 0)
Set equipment origin using the identified primitive at (0, 0, 0). Always note the origin of equipment. It is
usually attached to a point on one of its primitives. Once you are done with building equipment, position it
at its origin.

Basic Equipment Design: Assembly from Primitives

The steps for creating equipment from primitives are:
1. Identify default primitives in equipment
2. Create primitives, copy to duplicate
3. Assemble primitives
4. Position equipment
5. Orientate equipment

PDMS has default primitives from which any equipment can be designed. These primitives are nozzle, box,
cylinder, cone, dish, pyramid, snout, sloped cylinder, circular torus, and rectangular torus. The basic steps
for creating a primitive are:
1. Create: Create > Primitive
2. Position: Position > Explicit (AT)/Relative
3. Orientate: Orientate > Axe/Rotate/Primitive