Version 1 - Published November 2009

This document answers a number of questions you may haveabout the AVEVA Mechanical Equipment Interface. If you haveany further queries, please don’t hesitate to ask your AVEVArepresentative or contact us online via: www.aveva.com/contact

AVEVA MechanicalEquipment InterfaceYour Questions Answered

Q1. What is AVEVA Mechanical Equipment Interface?A. AVEVA Mechanical Equipment Interface is a new product from AVEVA. It

allows customers to import 3D models of equipment items created inother Mechanical CAD (MCAD) systems directly into AVEVA PDMS orAVEVA Outfitting. Imported equipment items are first inspected andvalidated in an intermediate holding area in the database before beinginserted into the topical design database. These items behave in exactlythe same way as other AVEVA PDMS/Outfitting objects.

Q2. How does it work?A. Model import uses the STEP AP203 protocol. All of the imported parts of

a 3D model become individual PDMS/Outfitting parts. Using MechanicalEquipment Interface users are able to:

• select the STEP file of the MCAD model• sort and filter individual parts of the model for manipulation• specify the appropriate Display Levels and Obstruction Volumes• graphically replace the display representation of the parts with

simple primitives• specify connection points and nozzles on the model to be used for

connecting pipes and electrical cables

Q3. Is Mechanical Equipment Interface part of the standard PDMS orOutfitting products or is it an additional product?

A. Mechanical Equipment Interface is a separate add-on product for bothAVEVA PDMS and AVEVA Outfitting. It is sold as two separate modules,one for importing models and one for exporting models. The import andexport modules are licensed and priced individually, to enablecustomers to select their required degree of functionality.

Image 1 courtesy of ANDRITZ OY. Image 3 courtesy of Howden.

AVEVA MechanicalEquipment InterfaceYour Questions Answered

Q4. Why was Mechanical Equipment Interfacedeveloped?

A. There has for many years been considerablecustomer demand for a robust means of importing3D models of mechanical equipment into the AVEVAPlant and AVEVA Marine 3D design environments. Tomeet this demand, however, required overcoming amajor technological barrier.

The 3D MCAD applications used for designingequipment items represent solid objects by definingsurfaces, a technique known as BoundaryRepresentation (B-Rep). In contrast, designapplications like AVEVA PDMS and AVEVA Outfittingmodel 3D objects as aggregations of solid geometric‘primitives’ such as spheres, cones, cylinders andblocks. Each technique is optimal for its particularpurpose, but the two are mutually incompatible atthe deepest level.

AVEVA has now overcome this incompatibility in aninnovative and unique way by incorporating B-Repcapability to define equipment items in the AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting design database. Users will now beable to quickly and easily import accurate anddetailed equipment models and expose them to thefull capabilities of the AVEVA solution set. This willsave direct man-hours in the design stage, eliminatemany potential sources of error and rework, andimprove productivity across an entire project.

Q5. Does Mechanical Equipment Interface work justone-way or is it two-way?

A. Mechanical Equipment Interface provides anefficient and intuitive Graphical User Interface(GUI) for importing STEP AP203 models, as this willbe the predominant need of its users. Users can alsoexport items in AP203 format from thePDMS/Outfitting command line.

Q6. From which 3D MCAD applications does MechanicalEquipment Interface support the import of STEPAP203 data?

A. Mechanical Equipment Interface has beenthoroughly tested to support the import of 3Dmodels in the form of high-quality STEP AP203 datafrom all the major 3D MCAD applications. Theseinclude CATIA V5, SolidWorks 2009, UGS-NX V4,Inventor, Pro/ENGINEER and CADDS5. AVEVA doesnot support the import of any STEP AP203 data if ithas not originated in one of the major MCADapplications. Prospective users should check withtheir AVEVA software support engineer for furtherdetails.

Q7. Can I import a complete plant or ship modeldesigned in an MCAD system using the MechanicalEquipment Interface?

A. Mechanical Equipment Interface has been designedand configured to enable the efficient import andexport of Mechanical Equipment items to and fromAVEVA PDMS or AVEVA Outfitting. This only importsthe geometric description of the item and a fewproperties, not all of the data properties associatedwith it. In theory a complete plant or ship modelcould be imported in this manner but it is likelythere would be performance problems in PDMS andthe resulting model would consist only of geometrydata. For these reasons AVEVA neither recommendsnor supports the import or export of such completeplant models via the Mechanical EquipmentInterface.

AVEVA MechanicalEquipment InterfaceYour Questions Answered

Q8. Can I replace my 3D MCAD application with AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting?

A. The simple answer is almost certainly ‘No’. Asexplained previously, PDMS/Outfitting and 3D MCADapplications are each optimal for their specific, andquite different, purposes. AVEVA would no morerecommend using its applications for equipmentdesign than it would recommend using 3D MCAD forplant or ship outfitting design. The increasedflexibility that Mechanical Equipment Interfaceprovides will no doubt result in imaginative use toovercome particular problems; but in normal projectexecution the ‘master’ design of an equipment itemwill remain with its originating MCAD application,while its integration into a project will be performedusing PDMS or Outfitting.

Q9. How do imported items of mechanical equipmentcoexist with equipment modelled directly inAVEVA PDMS/Outfitting?

A. Items of equipment imported via MechanicalEquipment Interface are stored in the designdatabase hierarchy and may be manipulated just asif they had been created within AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting. You can import any number ofmechanical equipment items. Once imported, youcan replicate an item any number of times in thedesign database.

It is also possible to have two differentrepresentations of the same equipment item, oneimported via the Mechanical Equipment Interfaceand the other created conventionally usingcylinders, boxes, cones, etc. within AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting. This enables a designer to workefficiently with simple representations of equipmentduring the early stages of design and to use the fullydetailed models later for design refinement andverification. The detailed models would be used fordesign review and communication with Operationsspecialists, who will thus be able to betterappreciate issues such as maintenance accessibility.

Q10. What file formats are supported? What about SATand IGES?

A. STEP AP203 is the only file format supported byMechanical Equipment Interface. Other STEP formatssuch as AP214 use AP203 as a geometry subset.AVEVA does not currently support file transfer usingSAT or IGES formats, but AVEVA software supportengineers may be able to provide consultancy andadvice in relation to data migration using other STEPformats and/or other file formats.

Q11. Is batch-mode import or export supported?A. No. Models must be imported or exported one at a

time. This is not normally a limitation in a typicalproject.

Q12. What size of Mechanical Equipment models can Ibring in?

A. In theory, Mechanical Equipment Interface canimport extremely large model files into the AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting database. However, this may leadto a reduction in performance and there are likely tobe few occasions when this might be necessary.(Users will appreciate that this is no different fromcreating native PDMS or Outfitting equipment itemsusing a very large number of polyhedral facets.)

For optimum productivity and system performance,best practice is to simplify mechanical equipmentmodels during import to the greatest extentconsistent with the needs of the design. Under thesecircumstances users are unlikely to experience anyimpairment of system performance.

AVEVA MechanicalEquipment InterfaceYour Questions Answered

Q13. Can I incorporate nozzles and attachment pointsto the imported models to facilitate pipe routing?

A. Certainly. This is an important requirement for anyeffective model import capability. The GUI providesusers with a number of options for placing anddefining nozzles, specifying the display levels,obstruction volumes, and so on.

Q14. How does this affect other AVEVA products such asAVEVA Review or AVEVA Global?

A. Models which are imported via MechanicalEquipment Interface can be exposed to the fullfunctionality of all relevant AVEVA applications. Theymay be exported to AVEVA Review for visualisation,shared across multi-site project teams using AVEVAGlobal and they will, of course, appear in all relevantproject deliverables such as drawings, Bills ofMaterials, and so on.

Q15. Can I edit the shape of the imported equipmentmodel in AVEVA PDMS/Outfitting?

A. No. It is not possible to edit the shape of a 3D modelimported via the Mechanical Equipment Interface;this must be carried out in the originating MCADapplication and the model re-imported. Attributescan (and generally would) be assigned to the modeland it can be rotated and moved just like any PDMSor Outfitting component.

For the purposes suggested under Q9, it is possibleto create a separate (graphical level) representationof the same item under the same design instance, asyou would do conventionally in AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting.

Q16. Can I perform clipping planes and sections ofimported models?

A. Yes. Models can be clipped, and sectioned drawingscan be produced in Draft. Where included in theimported model, the internals of the equipment canbe shown by applying a clipping plane in themodelling environment.

Q17. Do imported models work out-of-the boximmediately after import into AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting?

A. The importation process stores equipment models inan intermediate storage area of the AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting database. This enables the user toinspect and validate the imported model, and to addconnection/tie-in points such as nozzles beforeallowing it to be used in the design. Once satisfiedwith the suitability of the model, the user can theninsert this equipment item into the topical AVEVAPDMS/Outfitting design database from where itbecomes fully exposed to all relevant AVEVAfunctionalities.

Q18. If I have lots of design instances of, say, aparticular type of pump, can I use the importedequipment a number of times in the designdatabase?

A. A. Once an individual instance of an imported itemof equipment has been validated in the intermediatedatabase holding area, it can be copied a number oftimes in the design database. Like conventionalAVEVA PDMS/Outfitting Equipment items, importedequipment items are not catalogue items and needto be replicated in full.

Q19. Can Mechanical Equipment Interface repairproblems with the STEP file or corrupted files?

A. Mechanical Equipment Interface has been developedand tested to support model import in the form ofhigh-quality STEP AP203 data from the major 3DMCAD applications. It cannot ‘repair’ or ‘heal’ STEPAP203 data of sub-optimal quality.

Nevertheless it does contain a wide range of errormessages to highlight translation issues duringimport. AVEVA may be in a position to provideconsultancy or advice to help resolve problematicimports. If you encounter such difficulties pleasecontact your AVEVA software support engineer.

AVEVA believes the information in this publication is correct as of its publication date. As part of continuedproduct development, such information is subject to change without prior notice and is related to thecurrent software release. AVEVA is not responsible for any inadvertent errors. All product namesmentioned are the trademarks of their respective holders.

© Copyright 2009 AVEVA Group plc. All rights reserved. MEI/YQA/1209