P&IDs are piping and instrumentation diagrams that schematically represent all the equipment, pipes, associated components, instrumentation and controls in an industrial plant. These are highly complex drawings due to the vast amount of information they contain.
To make them easier to read and work with, Sacyr Proyecta, together with the ICT team, has created the P&IDs AI Project. The aim is to significantly improve the productivity of the engineering teams by extracting the lists associated with these documents – a task that used to take our specialists a great deal of time due to the high complexity of the drawings.
“This tool represents a significant step forward in the digitalisation of engineering processes. It enables us to transform static drawings into sources of structured data that are reusable and can be linked to other corporate systems,” emphasises Raúl López Perdiguero, director of Sacyr Proyecta.
Combination of advanced techniques
The technological solution combines advanced computer vision, optical character recognition (OCR) and machine learning techniques to process P&IDs in digital format and generate a structured file containing the detected elements.
This file is then refined using post-processing algorithms that eliminate false detections and improve recognition accuracy.
The tool features an interactive graphical interface that allows the user to review, edit and validate the results generated by the AI before exporting them to the final lists.
“To deliver real value in engineering, it is not enough simply to recognise symbols and carry out a basic count. It is essential to link each symbol to the line on which it appears in order to obtain key information, such as its size, material, etc.,” explains Ana Silva Balaguera, a mechanical engineer at Sacyr Proyecta.
Transforming traditional processes
“The smart P&ID digitisation project is a strong example of how technological innovation can transform traditional processes and have a direct impact on productivity,” says López Perdiguero.
The project’s architecture has been designed from the outset with scalability in mind, with the aim of extending the solution to other Sacyr business units, such as Water, Engineering and Infrastructure.
