Quick Pipe Routing

Quick Pipe Routing is used when:

• The head and tail of the branch has been defined but the route between the two has not, for example: implied pipe is not shown. (ill defined route = dotted line). The mouse is used to define the direction of the pipe route, elbows or bends are automatically inserted when the route changes direction.

• Bad alignment between two components, where the leave direction and arrive direction of adjacent elements do not match, (this can be due to the current design tolerance settings, for example: offset, angle and ratio).

• Arrive or Leave where Head or Tail is undefined, where the end directly adjacent to a component is unset or ill-defined. An unset end is where the Head or Tail has its attributes left in the default state, whereas an ill-defined end is where, when the reference is set, the position is not with the reference item or when the end reference is not set, hence the end connection is unset.

Quick Pipe Routing functionality is available through the Editor which is a mode of operation in Model which enables selection items in the graphical view to be reposition using the mouse.

The Quick Routing Handles are displayed at the head and tail of the ill-defined route. Ill-defined routes are where the Head or Tail of a Branch have defined but the route between has not. Once selected in the Editor mode the defined route is highlighted as blue.

Right click on the defined route the quick routing handles and the item specific selection operations menu are displayed, refer to Item-Specific Selection Operations for further information.

Create a pipe run between the head and tail of the branch, using the mouse, the quick routing handles and the options available from the quick pipe routing right click menu.

A change of direction displays in the graphical view and the Model Explorer as an elbow or bend (dependent upon the specification). To make the choice of elbows or bends, right-click the cardinal direction handles to display the Editor menu.

Note:
All the functionality available from the quick pipe routing right click menu is common throughout AVEVA E3D Design, refer to Common Functionality for further information. With the exception of Component Choice.

Note:
The slope functionality is only available in the piping discipline, refer to Slope Pipe Window for further information.

When using bends instead of elbows to reflect a change of direction, the default bend radius needs to be defined.

From the quick pipe routing right click menu, select Component Choice > Set Default Bend Radius, the Bend Radius Choice window is displayed. The Current Branch is displayed and Bending Machine is selected as default.

The Bending Machine part of the Bend Radius Choice window indicates that the bending machine must be selected.

Once a bending machine has been selected from the list of available machines, the bendmac reference on either the branch, pipe or zone is assigned depending on the selected Set Owner Reference.

A bending machine is automatically assigned to a zone, pipe or branch, using a bendmacref so that all bends will automatically be assigned a suitable bend radius to suit the assigned machine. The attribute is at pipe and branch because it is conceivable although unlikely that different branches may use different machines.

Note:
To check that a bend radius has bend defined correctly query the bend radius and also query dfbrad which is a pseudo attribute for the radius obtained from the bending machine (these values should be the same).

A bendmacref is also used by pipe fabrication which manages pipe spools and ensures that the spool configuration will pass through the bending machine and can be manufactured. So a bendmacref is essential at the spooling phase if any of the branches contain spools

Alternatively, the default radius can be defined using the Default Radius functionality, from the Bend Radius Choice window select Default Radius.

The default radius can be defined using two methods:

Bend Radius Factor - Use the bend radius factor to specify a factor which takes the current tube outside diameter and multiplies it by the factor available for selection from the Bend Radius Factor drop-down list. The bend radius factor is l then be used on all subsequent bends giving the appropriate radius according to their outside diameter.

Bend Radius - Explicitly enter a radius in the Bend Radius field, the bend radius is then be used on all subsequent bends giving the appropriate radius according to their outside diameter.

To automatically route multiple or single pipes orthogonally and with the minimum number of bends or elbows and where possible clash-free, refer to Pipe Router for further information.