Introduction
Let’s start by the simplified definition of what is a Fluid system.
What we call Fluid system , is addressing in fact Tubing, piping and HVAC systems.
The function of such system is to convey and transform Material flows. They can be manufactured from various types of physical materials depending on its innumerable industrial applications and so rely to various industry standards
Fluid systems design is also dependent of the context of usage. The pipe internal condition like fluid nature or flow properties and the external condition can vary along the process,. These different condition are regrouped through different piping specification .
Standard and piping Specification regroups codification, classification , material requirement and design rules that need to be respected during the project
For each project , company define the Stan
dard and Piping Specifications to comply with and they will be the mandatory criteria to be respect by all fluidic engineer and designer
Fluid systems in 3DEXPERINCE CATIA
In CATIA 3DEXperience, Fluid Systems regroups 3 +1 disciplines
Tubing discipline cover generaly Power transmission , like hydraulic and pneumatic systems. The caracteristic of tubing to work under high pressure and it uses small diameter tube that can be bended and flexible tubes or hoses.
Piping disicpline covering Fluid transport and transformation. The size of the tupe are bigger , tube can be bended up to a certain size but above this size elbow must be used the size is not the olny criteria , the tube material is another one indeed lots of material doesn’t support bending process
HVAC for Heat ventilation & air conditionoing are caracterized by section that are not only circular and by parts are not standardized . Dimension derives directly from Air flow & pressure drop calculation
The last one is not very common used mainly in space and defence industry is Waveguide. Waveguide system is more associated to electrical disciplinesystem but their design can be compare to HVAC wit h standard parts . Mainy done base or rectangular section , their production cost is very high , it is why design rules are very strict to reduce frabrication issues.
Even if the design and manufacturing preparation process is similar for all these disicplines, there is some variation .
Especialy for in term of design rules to be respected. indeed the range of material used and the manufacturing process can be different
Finaly In 3DEXPERIENCE CATIA For Piping and tubing discipline we use the same objects called Piping objects
For Ventilation and Wave guide we use objects call HVAC objects
Fluid system design processThe Fluid system Desing process can be simplified in diferent tasks, often realised by different department
overview
It start by System Architecture that define how the Product behave and what are the interfaces between the different systems .
then it goes with more detail physical design with Schematic and 3D and then Manufacturing .
All along the process various simulation are needed to size correctly the system itself, verify that is support specific stress condition and to anticipate manufacturing constrains
Of course all these departments need to relie to customer , company and project requirements
And All parties need to work on a unify project repository for data management
This will allow to facilitate the enormous number of interactions that are needed in the design process between all department and disciplines
In more details:
If we enter in little more details, we can see that there are many different task in each Macro steps:
Here, placed as part of requirement but it is more a project repository, we have the definition of the various Product breakdown structure definition (for zone, system and product it self, activities and so on to organize job and data.
The Other common repositories that are important to ensure a good piping design quality & traceability are
First the definiton of naming convension, standard catalog content (that can be link to the ERP system) and design rules . This is call in piping ; the piping SETUP
Then we have Product Definition and management (which is not specific to our discipline) with the need of having a centralize place to manage and trace the change of each physical components, managing configuration if needed , doing some review and so on
And then deliverable management
Of course this is not an exhaustive list , but they are crucial points that we always have to deal with, when discussing about Fluid system design with customer
Now if we go to the design steps
Job starts with System architecture, there are many different step with various teams from high lever functional diagram to multidiscipline Block diagram and discipline specific principle diagrams
Then we have the steps that interest us the most as Fluidic design and engineering specialist:
There is the Preliminary physical design with initial flow diagrams, 3D system space reservation and System dimensioning calculation. This will allows defining the characteristics of each pipeline and then defining the piping specifications that characterize the needed physical properties
And there is also the detailed design with P&ID diagrams and 3D detailing design. P&ID start s normally before detailing design and it is where the systems characteristics are defined in detail so it is important to provide tools to facilitate the usage of these informatuon during 3D design to ensure that 3D design respect System specifications
Of course, during 3D design we need to take into account
loads analysis to define additional hangers and supports,
local stress analysis to ensure that desig nwill support Pressure and temperature condition and variation on critical locations
Kinematic analysis to check flexible tube and hoses deformations
Finally split the pipe line in prefabricated assemblies, check bended pipe manufacturability and produce drawing and other deliverable for productions
For manufacturing and assembly planning , we rely to DELMIA Apps
Key Values
Based on that, we can say that the 3DEXperience delivers a End-to-end integrated Fluid systems engineering collaborative development platform
This platform provides a common systems definition environment facilitating the sharing of information and allowing to accelerate the product development and the innovation which become more and more challenging with the increase of the system complexity
The 3DExperience provides industry process experiences that cover the overall Fluid system design and manufacturing process through an integrated workflow that starts from systems architecture definition to 3D detailing design and manufacturing preparation. This participate to anticipate errors, increase product quality and decrease risk and cost during the execution phase
Finally the fluidic industry process experiences provides a set of first in class Roles and Apps base on a unified and powerful user interface and rule based design allowing to boost user productivity and design quality.
Other Key Messages
Focus on the project asset rather than only documents
how to optimize project lifecycle using a single global collaborative platform for all assets, and how this enables different scenarios for collaboration and true concurrent design in a social environment.
Schematic :
Manage your engineering data through schematic representation
The application is not just a drawing tool. It allows navigating and managing your tag objects and creating new ones en masse using the automated advance duplication function. Editing and modifying the object properties then becomes very easy.
Save money without compromising design quality or integrity
The application is project- and specification-driven; any object is automatically associated to the line ID and the piping specification is retrieved to associate certified solution articles early in the engineering process as desired.
Traceability mechanism ensures design consistency
Integrated checks will allow you to verify at any moment the consistency of your design in terms of object relations and project specifications.
Spend more time on engineering as opposed to drawing
Finalize your dress-up with automatic annotation, text, and report templates that can be automatically updated in case of item design change.
Leverage the data-centric 3D modeling paradigm to maximize project communication and efficiency through real-time concurrent design based on a unique integrated multidiscipline platform.
3D Design
Prepare your design session
Explore your 3D mockup and collect structured or unstructured elements based on attribute, types, or 3D area on which to work. Open only the required data.
Design right the first time respecting engineering specification and topology
You are able to check data consistency between schema and 3D design at any stage of the design process. This is key to ensure product quality and design efficiency.
Easily modify the general arrangement to adapt the design requirement to the site
You can then optimize the design taking into account how the equipment is maintained and operated. You can easily select and duplicate network and relink duplicated objects to the corresponding 2D pipeline definition.
3D design high efficiency due to smart and powerful user interface and assisted design technology
This allows easy route creation, iterations, and updates. An accurate and flexible 3D fluid system design allows you to precisely design and modify complex pipe/duct lines with the required level of detail with a scalable approach while respecting the schematic definition and piping material specifications.
Accelerate 3D design dimensioning and alternative designs
It is important to give simulation tool access to the designers who are not analysis experts to allow quick study and iteration.
Automate redundant detailing design task to leave more time for design studies
Capture your company’s knowledge and engineering expertise to drive 3D design with customizable rules that enable objects to interact in an intelligent and automated manner while respecting industry and standard design rules
Design time equals money
Why spend hours manually producing manufacturing documents when you can automatically and massively do it with minimum manual rework via certified templates? Automatic spool generation and piping assembly decomposition are available based on rules, automatic report generation based on company templates, and automatic drawing generation for fabrication and installation such as isometrics or orthogonal drawing.
Monitoring and maintaining data quality is a challenging task that needs to be controlled at any stage of the design process. Check data integrity and consistency with respect to project requirements and specifications.
