Instrumentation and

Control Systems
Documentation

Notice
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both the author and the publisher disclaim any and all liability of any kind arising out of such use.
The reader is expected to exercise sound professional judgment in using any of the information
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The reader is responsible for reviewing any possible patents that may affect any particular use of the
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nor the publisher endorses any referenced commercial product. Any trademarks or trade names referenced belong to the respective owner of the mark or name. Neither the author nor the publisher
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times, even if in conflict with the information in this publication.
Copyright 2004 ISA The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
ISBN 1-55617-870-0
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P.O. Box 12277 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is in process.

Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation

ABOUT FRED MEIER

Fred Meier's career spans more than 50 years as a control systems engineer, chief engineer, and engineering manager in the oil, chemical and engineering industries in the United States, Algeria, Canada,
Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. He has held Professional Engineer licenses in New York,
New Jersey, California, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. He completed U.S. Army training as an
electrical engineer and has a Mechanical Engineering Degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and
an MBA from Rutgers University.
Fred has been an ISA member more than 40 years. He has served as President of the New York Section;
the Edmonton, Alberta, Section; and the Tarheel (North Carolina) Capital Area Section. He was
awarded the ISA District II Golden Eagle Award in 2000.
Fred presented two papers at ISA 1982, Why Not Be An Adaptive Manager? and, jointly with co-worker
Trevor Haines, Contractor Handling of Engineering for Distributed Control Systems. He authored
the cover article for CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Feb. 22, 1982, Is your control system ready to start
up?. Fred and son Cliff (this book's co-author) presented a joint paper at ISA 1999, A Standard P&ID,
Elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel. Fred also published an editorial viewpoint in ISA TRANSACTIONS,
October 2002, A P&ID standard: What, Why, How?.
After Fred's first retirement, he served as the ISA Staff Engineer; after his second retirement, as an
ISA Instructor and Consultant; and, since his third retirement, as co-author of this book. Fred and
Jean have been married for 56 years, and are the proud parents of four children, four grandchildren,
and one great granddaughter. They currently live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

ABOUT CLIFF MEIER

Cliff Meier's 26 years of engineering experience started with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University. His attraction to the widgets and intricacies of Instrumentation and Controls has taken him to three continents and to industrial controls projects in nuclear
and fossil fuel power generation, oil and gas production, chemical and pulp and paper industries, and
microelectronics factories. Cliff has worked exclusively in consulting engineering on projects ranging in
complexity from a few loops to complex modernization projects and greenfield installations entailing
thousands of loops. His career started with manual drafting on Mylar sheets and has transitioned to computer-aided design (CAD), where data handling has almost eclipsed the importance of the physical
drawings. While he enjoys the team relationships of industrial design projects, he finds construction and
commissioning work to be almost as rewarding as writing with his Dad.
Cliff is a member of ISA and holds professional engineering licenses in Texas and Oregon.
Cliff and his wife, Cris, have been married more than 25 years and are the parents of the two finest kids
on earth Will and Helen. They live in Beaverton, Oregon, where they can gaze at snow-capped
mountains when it isn't raining, which, come to think of it, is not that often.

XV

Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation

List of Illustrations
I-1
I-2
I-3
I-4
1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4

Typical Continuous Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Instrument Drawing Schedule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Field Mounted Pressure Gauge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Complex Tag Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Process Flow Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Process Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
PFD Equipment Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Recipe Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4
2-5
2-6
2-7
2-8
2-9
2-10
2-11
2-12
2-13
2-14
2-15
2-16
2-17
2-18
2-19
2-20
2-21
2-22
2-23
2-24
2-25
3-1

Instrument & Process Control Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Sensing & Comparing Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Correcting Defined. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Loop Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Actuator Action and Power Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
An Electronic Loop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Identification Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Filter Press with D/P Indicator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Filter Press with D/P Transmitter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Typical Letter Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Instrument Numbering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
General Instrument or Function Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Instrument Line Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Pneumatic Transmission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Electronic Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Valves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Typical Transmitters - Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Flow Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Descriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
P&ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Flow Loop FRC-100. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Pressure Loop PIC-100. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Level Loop LIC-100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Local Panel Switches & Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Instrument List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

XI

XII

Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation

3-2
3-3
3-4
3-5

A Typical Instrument List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Typical Example of a Company's I&C Data Flow Diagram . . . . . . 59
Instrument Data Fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Common Service Description Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

4-1
4-2
4-3
4-4
4-5
4-6
4-7
4-8
4-9
4-10

Specification Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Pressure Gauge - Specification Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Pressure Gauge - Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Level Instrument - Specification Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Level Instrument - Instructions, Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Level Instrument - Instructions, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Hazardous (Classified) Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Area Classification - Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
NEMA Standard 250-2003. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Intrinsic Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

5-1

Seven Steps of Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

6-1
6-2
6-3
6-4
6-5
6-6
6-7

Logic Diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Binary Logic Symbols - AND & OR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Binary Logic Symbols - NOT & MEMORY (FLIP -FLOP). . . . . . . 98
Motor Start Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Logic Diagram L-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Integrated SIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Separated SIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

7-1
7-2
7-3
7-4
7-5
7-6
7-7
7-8

A Pneumatic Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

An Electronic Loop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Loop Diagram - Terminal Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Loop Diagram - Energy Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Loop Diagram - Instrument Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Loop Diagram - PIC -100. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Loop Diagram - Electronic Minimum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Loop Diagram - Electronic Minimum & Optional . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

8-1
8-2
8-3
8-4

Installation Detail, Type 1 - Thermowell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Installation Detail, Type 2 - Flow Transmitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Installation Detail, Type 3 - Conduit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Location Plan, Approach A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation

8-5
8-6

Location Plan, Approach B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Location Plan, Approach C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

9-1
9-2
9-3
9-4
9-5

ANSI Document Sizes for Engineering Drawings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

European Document Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Typical Title Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Typical Revision Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Notes and Revision Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

10-1
10-2
10-3
10-4
10-5

Hazardous Area Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

29 CFR 1910.119 (d) Process Safety Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
29 CFR 1910 (f) Operating Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
29 CFR 1910.119 (l) Management of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
ISA-5 Documentation Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

XIII

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Cris and Jean,

Without whose assistance and encouragement
this book would not have been started,
let alone finished.

Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation

VII

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to thank all those who assisted in the development of this book, especially
Dave Fusaro of Control, a Putman Media Co. publication;
Ken Bradham of Industrial Design Corporation; co-workers at Harris Group Inc.;
and to the Technical and Education Services Departments of ISA, especially Lois Ferson, Alice Heaney and
Linda Wolffe; designer, Vanessa F. Harris; and our copyeditor, Jim Strothman.
Cliff would like to especially thank the lads in Dublin, for making it fun, and in particular to Tony Riordan,
whose encouragement to have that ceremonial first scoop with "me Da" eventually
led to the idea of writing this book.