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Equipment Classification Systems
2

Equipment Classification Systems

Equipment Classification Systems

(OP)
I am looking for a standard code or convention for labelling plant items in a multi-product pharmaceutical facility.

Presently our facility uses a different alpha-numeric convention for labelling equipment every time a different design/construction consultancy has been employed.

Two examples below:

eg PI0034 is a Pressure Indicator and was the 34th to be added during the design phase.

or

PRG5112 where "PRG" refers to Pressure Gauge(indicator) "5" is the area "1" is the service (steam in this case and "12" is the 12th steam gauge in this area.


I would like to use a recognised system that I could specify to a design consultancy next time we undergo expansion (and possibly re-label existing equipment in order to have a site-wide system though this would be major work.

I have seen Standards (BS 1646) for Instruments but nothing for other equipment such as vessels, pumps, valves.

Any help or direction would be appreciated.

BB

RE: Equipment Classification Systems

I think you the nail on the head...everybody invents their own wheel, all the big  consultants, Bechtel, Fluor, etc all have their own way similar to each other but different

RE: Equipment Classification Systems

I have not seen any standards or convention on this. All is up to your company policy.

RE: Equipment Classification Systems

However, some "rules" can be useful :

a) Use number ranges to separate differents areas or processes within your plant
   - 100-199 : Production A
   - 200-299 : Production B
   - 300-399 : Energy Services
   - 400-499 : Tank Farm / Storage
   ......
b) Assign a given (one) letter to each equipment type
   - P: pumps
   - R: Reactors
   - T: tanks

c) If motors or gears are included in your scope then use M or G as second leter (being the first one the equipment)
   - PM: pump motor
   - RM: motor of the stirred tank

d)  Try to use similar number for different equipment types linked in a given process, e.g. the reactor R-103 can be fed from tank T-103 using the Pump P-103 (with motor PM-103)

Of course, many others can be added but these seem to me a good start
Regards

RE: Equipment Classification Systems

Most offshore oil and gas production system use the standard codes in API-RP-14C eg ABJ-1000 for Atmosphere tank (A for atmospheric vessel, BJ for tank) number 1000 with the instrumentation numbers runnng from 1000 eq PI-1000 for Pressure indication, PSH-1000 for high pressure switch, PCV-1000 for pressure control valve, etc.
Some company use the first digits to indicate location; so ABJ-1000 could mean atmospheric tank in module/area #1.

If there is another atmosheric tank in the same area, the number is ABJ-1010 and the associated instruments running number from 1010.

Check it out from API-RP-14C.  

RE: Equipment Classification Systems

We have used the heirachical system of numbering on some of our systems such as:
Department,Building No,Location in Building,Major Equipment Number, Equipment Number, example;
Department = DMC
Building is =12
Location in Building=North
Major Equipment= Reactor 3
Equipment is No = T2202 (A head Tank)
The number would then be DMC12N-R3-T2202
Using this scheme one could easily identify exactly where in the plant the piece of equipment was located and what reactor train it is located in.  Costs could easily be rolled up using this scheme also.

RE: Equipment Classification Systems

Some time ago, I attended an in-house "drawing" seminar for one company.  They, like other companies, had developed their own procedures for creating P&IDs.  They listed the following industrial standards as the basis for their procedures
ANSI B31.3 Chemical Plant and Petroleum Refinery Piping
ANSI Y32.11 Graphical Symbols for Process Flow Diagrams
ISA S5.1 Instrumentation Symbols and Identification

Check with CAD software vendors (Intergraph, MicroStation, AutoDesk), maybe they would indicate some reference for mechanical equipment.

Looks like some info in the NorSok Standards but again it looks like its their own procedures
http://www.standard.no/standard/index.db2?id=2409

Not likely that you'll find private company info but may want to check if any military or government organizations have published requirements for civilian contractors
http://www.usace.army.mil/library/libref.html
http://www.oit.doe.gov/

Of course, no matter what the basis of your system, the key is to make sure it is consistently applied.

RE: Equipment Classification Systems

Got curious so I started checking some of the links.

At http://www.nssn.org/search.html
I entered the following in the "Find Term(s) anywhere in the record"
piping instrumentation diagram

and found the following
Document Number: BSR/US PRO/IPO 10303-221  
Title: Product Data Exchange Using STEP (PDES): Part 221 - Functional Data and their Schematic Representation for Process Plant  
Scope:  This part of ISO 10303 addresses the objects (systems and equipment within a process plant, their identification, classification, connectivity, composition and properties. It also addresses presentation of the objects as a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID).  

Then performed a search on the internet for "ISO 10303-221".

Here's a couple of links from that search
http://www.fiatech.org/datastds/iso10303-221.htm
http://www.uspi.nl/

May be more than what you're interested in about equipment tagging but thought it was interesting.

RE: Equipment Classification Systems

(OP)
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread - all the posts have been helpful. BB.

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