Inventor piping / plant design.

[tph216]

Hi,

I am attempting to use Inventor to model a plant design, including several piping systems. I cannot fathom out how to create piping headers without going down a long-winded route which feels a bit botched, to me.

So, my top-level assembly is -500, the assembly containing my piping runs is -503, which is inserted in -500 along with some other assemblies.

The process I am currently using, in my 'piping' assembly layer is to:

1. Insert a part containing a 3D sketch of the header, produced basically from coordinate points. I.e. Ever point of interest dimensioned with 3 dims back to origin planes.

2. Create a new pipe run.

3. Create a new route.

4. Click 'derived route', change to single segment, and select all the sketch segments I want to include in the route.

5. Finish / exit the route creation.

6. Break the link back to the original 3D sketch. (I'd prefer not to, but it won't let me insert components into a derived sketch).

7. Go back into the route, and manually dimension / constrain every point in it back to origin planes / axes.

8. Exit route creation.

9. Place any components I need onto the relevant node in the route.

10. Populate the route.

This is the current 'best' method I've found, but there are still problems. For example, if I add a node into the route, dimensions are lost and I have to redimension the whole thing.

I thought that drawing the route from scratch would be a good option, but you can't seem to start a route off from thin air. To get round that I've been able to insert a 'grounding point' on an existing object corner or mid-point, edit its coordinates, use it as a starting point for a segment of route, delete the grounding point once the route segment is there, and then dimension each relevant point along the route to fully constrain it.

This method still has the prior problem with lost dimensions when you insert a node in the route (for a new branch, say).

All I am trying to do is create a number of different header systems, which I can branch out from at a later date by adding nodes where I need them. Each new branch I will create as a new route, grounded on the outlet tee at that point.

This doesn't seem like rocket science, but Inventor feels hell-bent (to me) on making a pigs ear of it.

I cannot help thinking that I've missed something blindingly obvious, but the tutorials & help files all seem only to concern themselves with placing short runs of piping between existing geometry, like two nozzles on a piece of machinery.

Any guidance or description of how people typically undertake the above (header creation) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mflayler]

Inventor was never designed for Plant Design. The Tube and Pipe system was designed for Skid Based systems. It even states this in the Tube and Pipe book for Inventor. How many piping runs and what size pipes are you looking at? How large of a span is this and do you need to create piping Isometric and ISOGENs with the data?

Autodesk has instead invested large sums of money in Plant3D in order to accomdate Plant Designers and has done a fantastic job for certain industries that really need this. What industry are you in?

Of note is that the new Plant Design Sutie Ultimate comes with Inventor for creating the equipment in the Plant and then Plant 3D will route the equipment.

 

[tph216]

Yes, I am getting the impression that Inventor isn't the best tool for this job.

To answer your questions:

1. I am looking at 10 existing headers in various materials and to various codes, and 10 new headers (flanged extensions to the existing).

2. The pipe sizes range from less than 1" up to 10". Generally class 150 or equivalent, but some are SS, some are UPVC, some are copper and some are aluminium.

3. My longest header is just over 190m. The extensions will be the shortest parts and are roughly 30m in length.

4. Luckily this is for a reference design and needs to be illustrative only. I.e. We don't need accurate iso's or ISOGEN data. I am not looking to use Inventor to tabulate bills of quantity, only really to provide an illustrative model, and to manually check for clashes (i.e. so the pipes need to be roughly right nominally, but not spot on).

5. I work in the nuclear industry.

I really wish I was having to do this in PDMS. My client has mandated Inventor, but I feel it is not the right tool.

I made some progress today, but this is going to be a severely limited model. There will be little hope of it being taken forward and put to much future use, other than as reference for detailed design using PDMS or similar.