Use SolidWorks to draw process piping flow diagrams?
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It is necessary to use SolidWorks to create a process piping diagram, which includes flanges, tees, elbows, and various tanks. I wonder if there’s any shortcut? Are there any good example problems I can refer to?
I am also learning this module. Let’s keep in touch when the original poster makes any progress!
I have been learning this software for a year, and I recently used it to work on a project related to the chemical systems in power plants. It seems to be quite useful for ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis applications, as it enables the creation of drawings for the equipment as well as for the pipelines (including seamless pipe systems, rubber-lined steel pipe systems, UPVC pipe systems, etc.). It is also good for tracking materials. The only downside is that design firms require single-line diagrams of the pipelines, and it’s not easy to meet this requirement. But it is still good for cutting materials for equipment production. I usually use its welded parts for frame components, and the routing plugin for piping.
I spend about half of my time on modeling, and once the model library is established, it’s much faster to work on projects. The configuration requirements are relatively high; my computer at first had a 64M graphics card and 256MB of memory, and it would often crash when working on engineering assemblies. As a last resort, due to the company’s stinginess, I had to get my own laptop; it has a graphics card with 512 MB of memory. It still works well for my needs. The issue I face is related to working with welded parts – especially when generating cut lists for them – and there are also some problems with routing (which is related to my familiarity with the software). It is said that upgrading to version 2009 will resolve these issues
Flanges, tees, elbows, etc. can be modified to the desired dimensions and parameters using the design library built into the software; for tanks, it is necessary to create a model manually, step by step, using the component modules. I built some models of ion exchangers and safety filters myself.
This software doesn’t seem to work very well for piping; it is recommended to use CADWorx for piping tasks.
I never thought that SolidWorks could do this as well; I thought using Cadworx or AutoPlant would be better. I’ll give it a try next time!!
SolidWorks can actually do this; I’m only familiar with AutoPIPE