Training Choices to be a more Complete Piper

Much of traditional piping design was governed by heuristic rules and it was the first process discipline to be computerised, a technology which contributes to design efficiency and safety. 

The progressive development of CAD over the last 55 years has provided a control to the standards of installed piping.  The first programs were geared toward accurate take-off of material, indeed up until the late ‘60s some items such as stainless-steel tube and valves were often in short supply.  Later 3D modelling ensured that no pipe occupied the same physical space as another pipe, structural steel member or vessel.  Clashes are expensive to correct on site. 

CAD applications are based on an approved piping specification.  Only these pre-approved combinations of safe and cost-effective materials can be called up by the design.

Training is available for Piping Designers.

Unlike vessel and machinery design, we question if the piping discipline gets its share of training investment.  And also, whether there is enough academic rigour behind it.  An established training environment has been development for five levels of competence.

The five levels of experience have been identified, courtesy of SPED: -

Prerequisite

The basic educational standards to enter further training in the piping discipline, lie somewhere around the HNC in the UK.

Level I

Knowledge of equipment and fittings necessary for the routing of pipe from the equipment nozzle to the pipe rack.

Level II

The candidate has performed these layout tasks on a project, but with close review and assistance from a supervisor or senior piper.

Level III

Candidate performs these routing tasks as a regular part of his or her job and only in unique or unusual situations does the candidate require assistance by a supervisor or a senior colleague.

Performs layout within the process plant, equipment placement, spacing and nozzle orientation, pipe routing to key equipment nozzles considering operations, maintenance, and safety issues.

Level IV

Other employees regularly consult the candidate for his or her expertise and assistance in performing their tasks and the candidate has managed, trained, or supervised others so that they can perform good quality piping design.

 

InIPED – International Institute of Plant Engineering and Design

InIPED launched in 2011 and I started to market them in the UK.  It is a private commercial initiative of a Dutch software company (spun off from the remains of Badger) and a Spanish University, who previously offered only the SPED courses.  Their objective is to train engineers in all the disciplines encountered in process or energy plant design.  Diploma & Masters courses are the most popular with excellent teaching texts.

Each module is about a week in length.  They start on fixed dates and involve the instructor who wrote the module in face-to-face tutorials over the web.  The instructor is also primarily responsible for the continuous development the material.  There are 24 modules on piping with a sub-set of 12 for a lower skill level and 40 if you wish to become aware of the full breath of plant engineering design. In addition to the tutor moderated, on-line courses, there is now the opportunity to purchase the texts.

Summary

The fundamental objective of these training programmes is to produce a good first routing, laying the foundation for economic and safe pipe detail design.