Learning piping and instrumentation drawings; How to read P&IDs

ISA and Control Engineering offer resources to help engineers, technicians, students, and others who want to review or learn how to read piping and instrumentation drawings (P&IDs). Read a tutorial P&ID article now (with more diagram) and see information about ordering a workbook or CD of clip systems.

By Control Engineering Staff October 30, 2008

ISA and Control Engineering offer resources to help engineers, technicians, students, and others who want to review or learn how to read piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs):

Working with piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) is easier with these resources. Click to see more diagrams by Control Engineering.

-Workbook from ISA: Reading a P&ID;
-CD from ISA: ISA 5 P&ID Clip Symbols Version 2.0;
– Tutorial article from Control Engineering: How to read P&IDs

(click link to read and see more diagram).
Workbook: Reading a P&ID
Reading a P&ID is a self-study workbook from ISA offering a concise course on how to read and understand piping and instrumentation drawings (P&IDs). These drawings, also known as process and instrumentation diagrams, or process and control diagrams, are essential to many industrial operations. The book explains how to:
-Identify symbols and function labels commonly found on P&IDs;
-Describe how system components are related; and
-Trace process stream flow and control loop functions.
The workbook has sample P&IDs, reference material explaining ISA symbology, answers to the problems, and a demonstration exercise that pulls together the skills taught in the course. The workbook, which has been reviewed for compliance with ISA standards and practices, covers the following subjects: Information on a typical P&ID, master sheets, symbols, instruments, line designations, tracing process flow, and controlling process operations.
ISA 5 P&ID Clip Symbols Version 2.0
If you develop P&IDs, then ISA 5 P&ID Clip Symbols Version 2.0 will help you do so with greater accuracy, consistency, and speed, ISA says. The CD can help engineering and construction firms, instrument engineers and technicians, and anyone else who develops P&IDs.
If you work with the following ISA standards, the CD-ROM will be a helpful resource:
-ISA 5.1-1984 (R1992) Instrumentation Symbols and Identification;
-ISA 5.2-1976 (R1992) Binary Logic Diagrams for Process Operations;
-ISA 5.3-1983 Graphic Symbols for Distributed Control/Shared Display Instrumentation, Logic and Computer Systems; and
-ISA 5.4-1991 Instrument Loop Diagrams.
Symbols are converted to clip art format and furnished in .DWG, .WMP, and .DXF file formats, allowing them to be easily employed with Visio, AutoCAD, and most other CAD software platforms, and other software applications, such as word processing and spreadsheet programs. System requirements are CD-ROM, IBM-compatible, hardware/software that can use files in the formats listed above. It occupies 1 MB of hard disk space.
ISA offers a 15% discount if the order is placed
Find more ISA books online.
– Edited by Mark T. Hoske , editor in chief
Control Engineering News Desk