Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation

Abstract

This book is written to be easy to read, with many illustrations and little or no mathematics (and absolutely no calculus!). It will be of interest to engineers and technicians, not only in the control systems field, but in many other technical disciplines as well. Control system groups are unique in that they have to coordinate among all the other work groups in a plant, mill, or factory during design, construction, commissioning and operation. This book explains their varied, all-encompassing language. It will also be of value to plant operating, maintenance, and support personnel who are interested in plant design deliverables (the documentation that a design group usually develops). The engineering design phase of a typical process plant may last from perhaps a few weeks to several years. Once the plant is built it may operate for thirty or more years. Common sense dictates that the documents developed during the engineering phase should have lasting value throughout a plant’s operating life. The purpose of this book is to provide you, the reader, with enough information to be able to understand the documents and the information on them and to use that understanding effectively. It is hoped this knowledge will be useful, not only in existing plants, but also as a basis for a review and reality check on future engineering design packages. Also—dare we say it—the authors hope to encourage effective discussions among the design team, the construction contractor, and the maintenance team that will lead them to agree on the document set that will most effectively meet all their requirements. Significant material has been sourced from ANSI/ISA-5.1-2009 Instrumentation Symbols and Identification (hereafter referred to as ISA-5.1). Material has also been sourced from ISA-5.2-1976 (R1992) Binary Logic Diagrams for Process Operations (hereafter referred to as ISA-5.2). Explanatory material has also been used from ISA publication, The Automation, Systems and Instrumentation Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Research Triangle Park, NC: ISA, 2006) (hereafter referred to as ISA Dictionary).