3D CAD Equipment Models

Is anyone aware of a third party company that creates and sells 3D models of process equipment?

I've only worked with Rebis, which has a package option with which designers can customize various parameters of common equipment (centrifugal pumps, tanks, towers/reboilers, etc.) to create a model that can be inserted into the overall model. The piping connections have "connectivity" built-in, so that the finished model "knows" the spec of the connection and when running piping up to the nozzle, it auto-connects and returns an error message if the pipe spec doesn't match with the equipment spec. This is fine for the more common pieces one sees in process plants, but equipment used in pulp and paper or mining operations (for example) don't fit into the available, customizeable components. This means that these elements have to be created in straight 3D AutoCAD by a fairly proficient modeller - who may or may not be a piping/mechanical person - and the end result has no "connectivity".

It would seem to be worthwhile for equipment manufacturers to provide these models themselves, but maybe it's seen as not being cost-effective. After all, a process engineer is not going to spec a piece of equipment purely based on whether it has a CAD model available. And for a third-party company to expend the time, effort and money also seems to be a non-starter, as such models would likely be easily copied without having to pay the developer.

Any thoughts?

Paul Received on Sat Nov 16 01:34:00 2002