Electrical Drawings Drafting

[L3GO-Ed]

Dear Experts,

I am presented with a task of overseeing preparation of Electrical  and Control Systems/ instrumentation drawings (a sample is attached herewith). However my AUTOCAD experience has been majorly in Civil works (Highways) (not drafting per say) and I therefore generally use C3D. So this is new territory for me but none the less I need to deliver a good job. My Boss, as part of the inception stage, requires me to advise on the resources required to undertake the assignment.

I would therefore like to inquire about the following;

How long would an average drafter take to prepare the attached drawing, if such work is done through traditional drafting in AutoCAD.

Which AutoCAD BIM aapplication can be used in lieu of AutoCAD. I was thinking of advising my firm to consider buying AutoCAD Electrical or AutoCAD MEP or Revit MEP or Plant 3D.

Thank you in advance

Edirisa W

[ara_neresesian]

HI

I think "Autodesk’s AutoCAD P&ID" is better candidate for that kind of drawing.

Good Luck

[SeeMSixty7]

I agree with @ara_neresesian that AutoCAD P&ID would be the best application for this. You can use stock AutoCAD and a P&ID library, but you will have to understand that it will just be a standard AutoCAD drawing with blocks. Any data extraction or linking will have to be handled manually by someone. AutoCAD P&ID provides a lot more functionality.

P&ID's are a but more than just the controls on them. They are typically driven by Process engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Controls Systems engineers, and Electrical Engineers. Drafting a basic P&ID is not super time consuming, but the actual engineering markup and update process can take quite a bit of time.

Good luck,

[john.vellek]

Hi @L3GO-Ed,

You got some good answers here.

As far as  how long it would take for creating your drawing, I would suggest that even though you have  civil background, that you sit down and draw it using the exact same tools as your staff. Not only will this give you the time it takes for a seasoned designer but it will also identify where the weak parts are in your CAD standards, deployment and procedures. 

As to which applications is best suited, I would suggest that AutoCAD Plant 3D which includes the P&ID might be quite appropriate for this process.

Perhaps you might grab some trial versions of the products you mentioned and give them a test to see how well they fit into your process. Please let me know how I might assist you in your decision.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[L3GO-Ed]

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@john.vellek wrote:

Hi @L3GO-Ed,

As to which applications is best suited, I would suggest that AutoCAD Plant 3D which includes the P&ID might be quite appropriate for this process.

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I Understand AutoCAD Plant is a BIM/ 3D software. Given our being novices in the P&ID filed, we don't think we shall be creating 3D Intelligent models (atleast not for now). So having noted that Plant 3D has the P&ID functionality, am I able to do my work in plain 2D in the Plant 3D environment?

Thank you.

[ryan.bales]

You do not have to use the 3D function of Plant 3D. Its perfectly okay to simply use the P&ID portion. The setup can be involved in getting a Plant 3D project off the ground - but it makes up for it in functionality and having everything in the database. 

[TheCADnoob]

Depending on the content a drawing like that can be as little as 5 hours or as many as 16. The source of the drawing is a big factor (nice and clean like this is an easy one) but a hand drawn filed sketch will require more tweaking.

It will take longer to get a system together to make drafting something like this quicker but once its in place they are easy to maintain. There are plenty of blocks out there that help with the drafting but it really depends on the type of equipment and the level of detail desired on the schematic. 

If all you want at the end of the day is a P&ID that looks good you can get away with LT. 

More than likely you will want more functionality than LT as there is a lot of information inside drawings like this which i find the use of LISP much more appealing. 

The best way to do it is with Autodesk P&ID. The beauty of the P&ID vertical is that your P&IDs are attached to substantial data behind them. Drafting a P&ID like this one attached (assuming the P&ID systems has been setup.. a pretty involved task) you could probably get to that drawing in under three hours as much of the more tedious aspects are automated like annotation and information lists which is already present in the database behind the drawing. It does require one to take the time thought to populate their standards and equipment list databases.  

There is a lot of power than can be leverage by P&ID but your company has to be in position to take advantage of it.