CHAPTER 5

5 Equipment Utilities

The Equipment discipline provides utilities that can aid productivity for equipment modelling and reporting,
including the Mechanical Equipment Interface, the Import Equipment Data utility and the Equipment
Report utility.

5.1 The Mechanical Equipment Interface

The Mechanical Equipment Interface (MEI) enables STEP (.stp) files generated by mechanical modeling
software to be imported into AVEVA E3D. Whilst the resultant equipment items are not intelligent, nozzles
may be created to overlay the imported model so that pipework may be connected to the equipment.

5.1.1 Importing Equipment with MEI A Worked Example

On the TOOLS tab, in the Import group, click the MEI

button to display the MEI Import form.

Make ZONE-EQUIPMENT-AREA01 the CE and on

the Import tab of the form, click the CE button to set
the storage location for the imported model.

The model may be imported below a SITE, ZONE or

EQUI or into an Application Data World (APPLDW)
structure.

Click the Browse button to display the Select file to

Import browser and locate the file TM-1811_Pump-
AA5A.stp, typically located at:
C:\AVEVA\Plant\PlantTraining2.1\Training\userdat
a

Click the Open button on the browser to populate the

Import File textbox.

The model may be imported as an Equipment (EQUI) element or a Volume Model (VOLM) element,
selected from the Import Model As options list. Leave the setting as Equipment, the default.

Empty the 3D View and click the Import button to start the model import.
The import will take time depending on the size of the file to be imported.

Once processed, the imported model is displayed in the 3D View. The

orientation may not be correct, as in this case.

Set the viewing direction to Iso .

Right click on EQUI TM-1811_Pump-AA5A in Model Explorer and select

Attributes from the pop-up menu to display the Attributes form.

Click in the Value cell of the Orientation WRT Owner attribute and edit
the attribute from Y is N and Z is U to Y is U and Z is E.

The pump is now orientated correctly. Close the Attributes form.

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Select the Modify tab on the MEI Import form.

In the Create Connections frame click the Create Nozzle at Selected

Element link label to display the MEI Create Nozzle form.

Enter AA5A/N1 in the Name textbox.

Select ANSI-NOZZLES from the Specification options list.

Select 300lb Ansi Flanges from the Generic Type options list.

Select 80mm from the Bore options list.

Enter 300 in the Height textbox.

With the pump as the CE zoom in to the vertical nozzle on the body of the
pump. Click the Position Nozzle link label to display additional information
on positioning at the bottom of the form:

Click and hold the left mouse button and select two opposing points on the
circumference of the nozzle, releasing the mouse button after each pick

The new nozzle is located in the centre of the model nozzle but is incorrectly
orientated.

Click the Flip Direction link label to orientate the nozzle correctly, as indicated by
the aid arrow.

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Click the Create Nozzle link label to create the new intelligent nozzle.

Close the MEI Create Nozzle and the MEI Import forms.

5.1.2 Exporting Equipment with MEI

Equipment (EQUI) or Volume Model (VOLM) elements in AVEVA E3D may be exported to a STEP (.stp) file
and imported by other 3rd Party packages.

On the TOOLS tab, in the Export group,

click the MEI button to display the MEI
Export form.

The buttons in the Element List frame

enable elements to be added to the
Element List for export.

The Clear All and Clear Selection

buttons below the list enable elements to
be removed from the Element List.

The textbox in the Output frame enables

a filename for the exported elements to
be entered.

Clicking the Browse button adjacent to

the textbox displays a Select File
browser to locate and select a file or
filename.

Clicking the OK button creates the STEP file in the specified location.

5.2 Import Equipment Data Utility

The Import Equipment Data utility enables EQUI elements to be created in the database by importing data
from an Excel (.xls) or comma separated value (.csv) file. The import data may set any of the standard
attributes or UDAs of an EQUI element but will not create any primitives.

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On the TOOLS tab, in the Import group,

clicking the Excel button displays the Data
Import form, a standard Windows browser
dialogue, where the file to be imported may
be located.

Once found, clicking the Open button on the

form closes the form and imports the data.

The data may take a short time to process,

depending on the size of the import file.

Once processed, the Data Import form is

opened, displaying the results of the import.

The Type column displays the element type, including UDETs, and each entry is prefixed by an icon which
represent the status of the data, as described in the following table:

This icon indicates that no equipment with the name exists in the database. If the data is loaded, an
element of this name will be created.

This icon indicates that equipment with the name already exists in the database. If the Load All Data
function is used, then attributes of the existing equipment will be modified. No action will be
taken on rows with this icon if the Load New Data button is used.

This icon indicates that the system has identified a problem with this row of data. No action will be
taken on rows with this icon when the Load All Data or Load New Data buttons are used.

Selecting this row in the table will display a message in

the Messages area of the form to indicate why this row
cannot be processed.

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Clicking the Load All Data button will process all of the rows that create a new element or modify an
existing element. Clicking the Load New Data button will only process the rows that create new elements.

New data is created at the current location in the database if an owning element field is not included in
the imported file. The owning element is considered to be the current element when the file was loaded
and the rows of data analysed, not the current element when a Load button is pressed. If an owning
element field is provided in the import file, the system will attempt to create elements under the
specified owner.

Once imported, the icons on the left of the form change to indicate the status of the loaded data.

This icon indicates that the creation or modification operation was successful, i.e. an element has
been created or modified in the database.

This icon indicates that the operation has not completed successfully because of an error found while
the system was trying to create or modify an element. If an attribute value is incorrect then the
element has been created, but not all of its attribute data has been loaded.

The Undo function may be used to remove all of the changes made by the load operation and revert
the database back to its state before the load, or the errors on the erroneous elements dealt with
individually.

Selecting a row in the table with this icon will display a message in the Messages area of the form to
indicate the error.

Another import file can be loaded by clicking the Open File button or by typing a name directly into the
filename textbox on the form.

The Reload File button reloads the file shown in the filename textbox. This may be necessary if the current
element was incorrect or an owner element was missing when the file was first loaded.

It is possible to load element types other than Equipment using this utility. If the imported file is carefully
constructed, following the rules listed below, it would be possible to import other element types provided that
fields in the file contain all of the required data. For example, a nozzle list could be loaded provided that the
owning equipment name is provided in an Owner field for each nozzle element, and the Type field identifies
the element as a nozzle.

5.2.1 Rules for the Content of Import XLS and CSV Files

The file must be a valid .csv format or .xls format file.

The first row of the file contains a list of headings. Each heading represents a column in the file
containing an attribute of the elements being loaded.

There must be a NAME column; otherwise the file will not be loaded. The NAME column may contain
the name of a new element, or the name of an existing element. If an existing element name is used,
then this row is an update row for that element. The name used must obey the normal rules for element
naming in AVEVA E3D.

There must be a TYPE column. This column contains the database element type of the element being
loaded, e.g. EQUI. If this column is absent, the file will not be loaded. If the Project has been configured
with User Defined Element Types, then this column could contain a valid UDET name (e.g. :PUMP). If
the named element already exists, but its element type does not match the TYPE in the file, then this
row will be ignored and an error raised.

An OWNER column may be included. If this column is present, it must contain the name of an existing
element that will own each imported item when it is created. This owner name will be ignored if the
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imported item already exists, i.e. it is not possible to change the owner of existing Equipment by using
the OWNER column. If the OWNER column does not exist in the file, then the owner is the current
location in the Design db hierarchy at the time that the file is loaded and analysed. In this case, the
current database element at the time that the file is loaded must be able to contain imported elements.

The remaining headings in the file must be valid attribute names for the element type being loaded. The
attribute names may include User Defined Attribute (UDA) names.

Columns cannot be added for array type attributes unless those attributes can be set using a list of
values in a single field in the file. For example, the string "10 20 30" in a DESP field would set design
parameter 1 to 10, 2 to 20 and 3 to 30.

Every row following the heading row must contain the correct number of fields (columns) as defined by
the heading row.

Every row must contain valid values, or no values, for each field.

If a new element is being created, an attribute will be set to its default value if a field in the file is empty.
Two adjacent separators denote an empty field. The NAME and TYPE fields cannot be empty.

If an existing element is being modified, an attribute value will remain unchanged if a field in the file is
empty.

It is not possible to unset an attribute value from a file, other than by providing the default value. For
example "X0Y0Z0" for a position.

Each field in the file must be a text field. Care must be taken with fields containing values that are
considered by Microsoft Excel to be a formula. For example a database reference number in the form
"=123/456" would be considered to be a formula because of the = character. This can be overcome by
proceeding the = character with a single quote character that forces the field to be treated as a text
string. If the file will not load successfully into Microsoft Excel, it will not load successfully using this
import utility.

Any import of new or modified element data will be subject to the data access control configuration
implemented for the current User and Project.

This utility will not attempt to claim data automatically in an Explicit Claim database. If the data is imported
into an Implicit Claim database, then the appropriate elements will be claimed, if not already claimed by
another user.

5.3 Equipment Report Utility

The Equipment Report utility is specifically designed to quickly generate configurable equipment reports
using the equipment elements and their attributes stored in the Design databases. The reports may be
exported to Excel for printing or additional enhancement.

On the EQUIPMENT tab, in the Report group, clicking the Equipment Report button displays the
Equipment Report form. The form has two tabs, Columns and Output.

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5.3.1 Selecting Attributes to Output

The Columns tab allows the definition of the report including the elements and their attributes to be
reported.

The Report Type options list sets the type of element to be reported. Reports can be generated for
Equipment items, Nozzles or Electrical Components.

The scope of the report is selected using the Scope options list and can be set to All, where the entire MDB
is used or the Current Element where the CE will be used.

The tab has two lists, the left showing Available Attributes and the right showing Chosen Attributes
which, by default, is empty.

The Available Attributes list shows the standard attributes and UDAs available for the selected report
element type, in alpha-numeric order, together with their Description, Data Type and Report Header, i.e.
the text that will appear at the top of the column if the attribute is selected to appear in the report.

The Pseudo Attributes checkbox, which is by default unchecked, may be used to include the pseudo
attributes of an element in the Available Attributes list, thereby making them available for inclusion in the
report.

Once the attribute selection process has commenced the checkbox is greyed out, therefore, the choice
whether to include them in the report must be made before attribute selection starts.

Emptying the Chosen Attributes list re-activates the Pseudo Attributes checkbox.

Between the two lists are four buttons that facilitate transfer of the attributes from one pane to another.

Adds the selected attributes to the Chosen Attributes list.

Adds all attributes to the Chosen Attributes list.

Removes selected attributes from the Chosen Attributes list.

Removes all attributes from the Chosen Attributes list.

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Left clicking on an attribute in either list highlights the selection. Multiple attributes may be selected in either
list using the standard Windows selection methods. Attributes may only appear in one of the lists; therefore,
attributes added to the Chosen Attributes list no longer appear in the Available Attributes list.

The attributes will populate the Chosen Attributes list in the order they are selected. Multiple, non-
contiguous selections will appear in alpha-numeric order when added to the Chosen Attributes list. The
four buttons on the right hand side of the Chosen Attributes list may be used to modify the list order.

Moves the selected attributes to the top of the list.

Moves the selected attributes up the list.

Moves the selected attributes down the list.

Moves the selected attributes to the bottom of the list.

5.3.2 Outputting Attributes

Having selected the Element Type, Scope and Attributes, clicking the Output tab presents the data in a
grid where the columns are in the order specified in the Chosen Attributes list and the column headings are
the Report Header texts.

The data in the Output tab grid may be grouped, filtered, sorted and summarised as per standard
AVEVA E3D grid functionality.

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Once the data has been

manipulated to suit the report
requirements, clicking the Export to
Excel button on the Equipment
Report form opens a standard
windows Save As dialogue window,
where the location and filename of
the output may be specified.

Clicking the Save button on the

Save As dialogue saves the file with
the specified filename to the
specified location and closes the
form.

Saving the output activates the

Open in Excel button on the
Equipment Report form which
opens the saved file in Excel.

Grouped and filter operations on the Output tab are reflected in the resulting Excel file.

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Exercise 4 Data Import and Equipment Reports

This exercise imports a csv file to create a number of equipment elements and generates various equipment
reports.

Create a SITE named /New_Equipment and a ZONE named /Equipment_List.

Import file TM-1811_Equip-Import.csv, located in the AVEVA E3D user folder typically
C:\AVEVA\Plant \PlantTraining2.1\Training\userdata, to the new Zone.

Create, and export to Excel, equipment reports for:

a) all the equipment in the MDB.

b) all the equipment in SITE SITE-EQUIPMENT-AREA01.

c) all the equipment in SITE New_Equipment.

The equipment reports should show the following attributes in the order given:

a) NAMN (Pseudo Attribute).

b) Owner.

c) ActType.

d) Description.

e) Position.

f) Orientation.

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