Design support device and design support method

Abstract

Efficiently create design drawings that show the location of symbols and the routes of piping. [Solution] Based on drawing information including information about symbols constituting the design drawing and information about piping including at least orientation, and design information about piping not shown in the drawing information, information that will be the basis for design condition information for creating the design drawing is generated, design condition information is generated by converting the basis information in a predetermined format, and a design drawing representing the symbols and piping included in the generated design condition information is output as modified drawing information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a design support device and a design support method.

Background Art

[0002] In the manufacturing industry, various drawings are created during the design process. Even in the plant field, there are various drawings such as PFD (Process Flow Diagram) that shows major devices, equipment, piping, control devices, etc. of the process and represents the process flow, material flow, control loop, major fluid flow, etc., P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagram) that includes more detailed connection relationships of equipment including valves and instrumentation equipment such as measuring instruments and control loops, and isometric projection drawings that show the three-dimensional relationship of piping and equipment in an isometric projection.

[0003] Creation of these drawings requires various considerations and is a very labor-intensive task. Therefore, technologies for efficiently creating these drawings have been developed.

[0004] For example, Non-Patent Document 1 introduces a technology for learning the connection relationships of equipment, instruments, etc. by learning the drawing data of a large number of process flow diagrams with a neural network to support the creation of plant flow sheets and P&IDs for further efficiency improvement.

Prior Art Documents

Non-Patent Documents

[0005]

Non-Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] However, plant design drawings include not only drawings that represent process flow, such as PFDs and P&IDs, but also drawings that represent piping routes connecting symbols such as equipment and valves, such as isometric projections of piping. Non-patent document 1 does not mention drawings that include information on the location of symbols such as equipment and valves in a plant, or information on piping routes such as the location, orientation, and length of piping. Therefore, conventional technology still cannot efficiently create such drawings. For this reason, there is a need for technology to efficiently create design drawings that represent the location of symbols and piping routes.

[0007] The present invention aims to provide a technology that enables the efficient creation of design drawings that show the positions of symbols and the routes of piping. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A means for solving the above problems is a design support device that uses a computer having a processor and memory to assist in the creation of design drawings for a plant, wherein the processor generates information that forms the basis of design condition information for creating the design drawings based on drawing information including information about symbols constituting the design drawings and information about piping including at least orientation, and design information about the piping not shown in the drawing information, generates design condition information by converting the basis information in a predetermined format, and outputs a design drawing that represents the symbols and piping included in the generated design condition information as modified drawing information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, design drawings that show the position of symbols and the route of piping can be efficiently created. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1]This is a diagram illustrating the configuration of this embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a diagram illustrating a basic example of a computer. [Figure 3] This diagram shows an example of an isometric projection of plant piping. [Figure 4A] This diagram shows an example of a piping list, which is one of the design pieces of information. [Figure 4B] This diagram shows an example of a piping list, which is one of the design pieces of information. [Figure 5] This diagram shows an example of a prior art flowchart. [Figure 6] This diagram shows an example of design condition information based on prior art. [Figure 7] This figure shows an example of design condition information according to this embodiment. [Figure 8] This figure shows an example of a modified drawing according to this embodiment. [Figure 9] This figure shows an example of a symbol list output by a trained model. [Figure 10] This is a graph showing the isometric view of Figure 3. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The embodiments are illustrative examples for explaining the present invention, and have been omitted and simplified as appropriate for clarity of explanation. The present invention can also be carried out in various other forms. Unless otherwise specified, each component may be singular or plural. The position, size, shape, and range of each component shown in the drawings may not represent the actual position, size, shape, and range in order to facilitate understanding of the invention. Therefore, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the position, size, shape, and range disclosed in the drawings.

[0012] Examples of various types of information may be described using terms such as "table," "list," and "queue," but these types of information may also be represented by other data structures. For example, various types of information such as "XX table," "XX list," and "XX queue" may be referred to as "XX information." When describing identification information, terms such as "identification information," "identifier," "name," "ID," and "number" are used, and these terms are interchangeable.

[0013] When there are multiple components with the same or similar function, they may be described using the same symbol but with different subscripts. Furthermore, when it is not necessary to distinguish between these multiple components, the subscripts may be omitted in the description.

[0014] In the examples, the processes performed by executing a program may be described. Here, the computer executes the program using a processor (e.g., CPU, GPU) and performs the processing defined in the program using memory resources (e.g., memory) and interface devices (e.g., communication ports). Therefore, the main entity performing the processing by executing the program may be the processor. Similarly, the main entity performing the processing by executing the program may be a controller, device, system, computer, or node having a processor. The main entity performing the processing by executing the program may be an arithmetic unit, and may include dedicated circuits that perform specific processing. Here, dedicated circuits include, for example, FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), CPLDs (Complex Programmable Logic Devices), etc.

[0015] The program may be installed in a computer from a program source. The program source may be, for example, a program distribution server or a computer-readable storage medium. When the program source is a program distribution server, the program distribution server includes a processor and a storage resource for storing the program to be distributed, and the processor of the program distribution server may distribute the program to be distributed to other computers. Also, in the embodiment, two or more programs may be realized as one program, or one program may be realized as two or more programs.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the design support apparatus in this embodiment and the information handled by the design support apparatus. The design support apparatus 3 in this embodiment is an apparatus that recognizes a drawing of a plant and supports the creation of the drawing, and uses drawing 1, design information 2, learned model 4, corrected drawing 5, corrected design condition information 6, and instruction information 7.

[0017] Drawing 1 is an isometric projection view of a pipe showing the shape of a pipe connecting symbols such as devices and valves of a heat exchanger included in a plant. Further, the design information 2 is information for designing a plant that is not described in drawing 1. In this embodiment, as an example, a pipe list in which attributes such as design pressure and temperature information of a pipe connecting symbols are described is used. The design support apparatus 3 includes an identification information acquisition unit 31, a design condition information generation unit 32, an information input unit 33, and a result output unit 34.

[0018] The identification information acquisition unit 31 extracts information on symbols and pipes described in drawing 1, and combines it with the information described in design information 2 to create attribute-attached identification information. It is information including information on the positions of symbols such as devices and valves of a heat exchanger included in a plant, and information on pipe routes such as the position, direction, and length of pipes. Further, the attribute-attached identification information includes information on attributes related to symbols and pipes. An example of the attribute-attached identification information will be described later.

[0019] The design condition information generation unit 32 generates design condition information from the attributed identification information created by the identification information acquisition unit 31, and outputs the generated design condition information to the information input unit 33 or the result output unit 34. Here, design condition information is information that represents the attributed identification information as a string, and is information that integrates the connection information of the symbols described in drawing 1 and the attribute information described in design information 2. Details of the design condition information will be described later.

[0020] The information input unit 33 is an interface for outputting design condition information to the trained model 4, and the result output unit 34 is an interface for outputting the results obtained from the trained model 4. The trained model 4 is a model that has learned a large amount of drawings and design information, and outputs a modified drawing 5 or / and a symbol list 6 relating to the configuration described in the modified drawing 5, which is a modified version of the input drawing 1. The result output unit 34 may also receive the results obtained from the design condition information generation unit 32 and output the modified drawing 5 or / and the symbol list 6 without using the results obtained from the trained model 4.

[0021] The design support device 3 shown in Figure 1 can be realized by a general-purpose computer 1600, which includes, for example, a CPU 1601, memory 1602, an external storage device 1603 such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a reader 1607 for reading and writing information to a portable storage medium 1608 such as a CD (Compact Disk) or USB memory, an input device 1606 for receiving various types of information such as a keyboard and mouse, an output device 1605 such as a display for outputting various types of information that are input and used for processing, a communication device 1604 such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) for connecting to a communication network, and internal communication lines 1609 such as a system bus connecting these.

[0022] Furthermore, various data stored in the design support device 3 or used for processing (for example, identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit) can be realized by the CPU 1601 reading and using it from memory 1602 or external storage device 1603. In addition, each part of the design support device 3 (for example, the identification information acquisition unit 31, the design condition information generation unit 32, the information input unit 33, and the result output unit 34) can be realized by the CPU 1601 loading a predetermined program stored in the external storage device 1603 into memory 1602 and executing it.

[0023] The aforementioned programs and data may be stored or downloaded from the storage medium 1608 via the reading device 1607, or from the network via the communication device 1604, into the external storage device 1603, and then loaded onto the memory 1602 and executed by the CPU 1601. Alternatively, they may be loaded directly onto the memory 1602 via the reading device 1607 from the storage medium 1608, or from the network via the communication device 1604, and executed by the CPU 1601.

[0024] In the following example, we will illustrate a case where the design support device 3 is composed of a single computer. However, all or part of these functions may be distributed across one or more computers, such as a cloud, and similar functions may be achieved by communicating with each other via a network.

[0025] The following describes this embodiment in detail. Conventionally, design support devices that learn from a large amount of drawing data to modify plant drawings have had difficulty being applied to drawings that show not only equipment connection information but also positional relationships, such as isometric projections. However, as will be explained below, this embodiment makes it possible to easily modify drawings that show connection information and positional relationships.

[0026] Figure 3 shows an example of Figure 1. This figure is an isometric projection of a portion of the piping in a plant, and will be referred to as an isometric drawing below. The figure also shows symbols including equipment such as pumps connected to the piping. The coordinate axes in this figure are defined by the x, y, and z axes shown. Drawing an isometric drawing is the most basic method of drawing. That is, the vertical z-axis direction is also vertical in the drawing, and the x-axis and y-axis directions are each tilted at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal, so the angle between them is 120 degrees.

[0027] Most of the piping is arranged along the x, y, or z axis. While bends in the piping are technically bent pipes, in this embodiment, the bent sections are schematically depicted as right-angle pipes. Dimensions necessary for construction, such as the length of straight pipe sections and the length to branch pipes, are indicated by dimension lines. Both ends of the dimension lines are arrows, and the leader lines for dimensioning are line segments. However, the thickness of the line segments differs from that of the pipes to distinguish them. Pipe numbers are also indicated on the piping. In this embodiment, "P-01-300" on the rightmost pipe is the pipe number. Although valves are not shown in this diagram, they will be depicted on the piping if necessary.

[0028] Design Information 2 is design information for components of the plant that are not shown in Drawing 1. In this embodiment, as an example, it is shown as a piping list that contains attributes such as design pressure and temperature information for the piping to which the symbols are connected. Figure 4A shows an example of Design Information 2. Here, connection information such as "From" and "To," "Nominal Diameter," "Wall Thickness," "Material," "Insulation Thickness," "Design Pressure," and "Design Temperature," which indicate the connection relationship of the piping in the flow shown in Figure 3, are stored in association with the piping number used to identify the piping. Note that "From" in the connection information is the source of the piping connection, and "To" is the destination of the piping connection. For example, the piping identified by piping number "P-01-300" is a heat exchanger indicated by "HEX-01" as "From," and a pump indicated by "Pump-02" as "To." Therefore, it can be seen that this piping is the piping from the heat exchanger to the pump.

[0029] The design support device 3 includes an identification information acquisition unit 31, a design condition information generation unit 32, an information input unit 33, and a result output unit 34. Each of these will be described below.

[0030] The identification information acquisition unit 31 extracts information on symbols and piping described in drawing 1 using known drawing recognition technology and combines it with the information described in design information 2 to create attributed identification information. Specifically, the identification information acquisition unit 31 recognizes symbols such as pumps and heat exchangers shown in Figure 3, and the piping connecting each symbol, using an image recognition model. A known image recognition model may be used. The identification information acquisition unit 31 also recognizes strings of text in the drawing using known character recognition technology and associates them as attributes of the symbols based on the positional relationship between the symbols and the strings of text. For example, if the distance between the symbol and the string of text satisfies a predetermined condition (e.g., within 1 mm), the identification information acquisition unit 31 associates the recognized string of text with an attribute related to that symbol and stores it.

[0031] Next, regarding the piping, the identification information acquisition unit 31 assigns unique identification information to the piping recognized by the image recognition model and acquires connection information indicating the connection relationship, such as the source and destination of each piping, as well as the piping route, from the diagram shown in Figure 3. The identification information acquisition unit 31 compares the acquired connection information, including the identification information, with the connection information in the piping list shown in Figure 4A, and identifies piping for which at least one of the connection information, either the source or the destination, matches. By performing this processing, the identification information acquisition unit 31 can identify the piping number of each piping shown in Figure 3, even if the piping number is not listed, and acquire attributes such as the nominal diameter, wall thickness, material, insulation thickness, design pressure, and design temperature that are stored in association with the identified piping number.

[0032] For example, the isometric drawing in Figure 3 shows a branch pipe 301 connecting from pump "Pump-01" to pipe "P-01-300," but it is not assigned a pipe number, which is pipe identification information. On the other hand, the pipe list in Figure 4A contains a pipe where "From" is "P-01-300" and "To" is "Pump-01," and the pipe number is stored as "P-02-300." By comparing the two, the identification information acquisition unit 31 can identify that the branch pipe 301 shown in Figure 3 is the pipe indicated by the pipe number "P-02-300" in Figure 4, as it is a pipe with a matching connection destination. Furthermore, the identification information acquisition unit 31 can see that the identified pipe has attributes such as a "nominal diameter" of "300A," a "wall thickness" of "11.13mm," a "material" of "carbon steel," an "insulation thickness" of "30mm," a "design pressure" of "3.5MPa," and a "design temperature" of "180 degrees."

[0033] Furthermore, the identification information acquisition unit 31 acquires the route of the piping. Specifically, the identification information acquisition unit 31 acquires the orientation and length of the piping as information regarding the route of the piping. The identification information acquisition unit 31 determines the orientation and length of the piping from the piping drawn in the isometric view shown in Figure 3 and its angle. The following explanation will use the piping "P-01-300" from the pump "Pump-02" to the heat exchanger "HEX-01" as an example. The identification information acquisition unit 31 can determine that the piping 302 extends 3500 mm in the positive Z direction from the pump "Pump-02", then extends 2400 mm in the negative Y direction to connect to branch BR, extends another 3000 mm, and then extends 5800 mm in the positive X direction.

[0034] The design condition information generation unit 32 generates design condition information from the attributed identification information created by the identification information acquisition unit 31. Here, design condition information is a string representation of the attributed identification information, and integrates the symbols and piping connection information described in drawing 1, and the attribute information described in design information 2. The design condition information generation unit 32 creates the design condition information including the orientation and length information of the piping.

[0035] Figure 4B shows an example of attribute-based identification information, combining the isometric drawing shown in Figure 3 and the piping list shown in Figure 4A. As mentioned above, design condition information is a string representation of attribute-based identification information; therefore, attribute-based identification information can also be described as information that lists the string representation of design condition information in a tabular format. In the attribute-based identification information exemplified below, for piping that branches midway, the pipes are divided at the branching points and managed with sub-numbers.

[0036] Specifically, since the piping "P-01-300" has a branch BR in the middle, the section of piping that makes up the part from the pump "Pump-02" to the branch BR is stored as "P-01-300-01", and the section of piping that makes up the part from the branch BR to the heat exchanger "HEX-01" is stored as "P-01-300-02". The section of piping "P-01-300-01" has the aforementioned attributes such as a "nominal diameter" of "300A" and an "insulation thickness" of "30mm", and it can be seen that it extends 3500mm in the Z+ direction from the pump "Pump-02", then branches off at a point where it extends 2400mm in the Y- direction, and the branch BR is registered as "Branch-01". Next, we will explain how to convert this information into a string format.

[0037] To make the features of this technology easier to understand, we will first explain conventional examples using Figures 5 and 6.

[0038] Figure 5 is an example of a process flow diagram, which is one of the diagrams used in the prior art. In the process shown in Figure 5, raw materials are fed into a reactor (r) via a heat exchanger (hex), the product (prod) is removed from the top of the reactor, and the remainder is discharged from the bottom. The material discharged from the bottom passes through a heat exchanger and is then fed into a flash tank (flash), from which the product is discharged from both the top and bottom.

[0039] In conventional technology, this process is represented as shown in Figure 6. The notation method of the string shown in Figure 6 is a conversion of the above process according to the SFILES format described in Non-Patent Literature 1. The main symbols are explained below. "()" represents a symbol of input or equipment, "{}" represents supplementary explanation, and "[]" represents branching. For example, the part at the beginning, "(raw)(hex)(r)", indicates that the raw material (raw), heat exchanger (hex), and reactor (r) are connected in series, and the part, "(r)[(prod)](hex)", indicates that the flow branches from the reactor (r) to the product (prod) and to the heat exchanger (hex).

[0040] Next, Figure 7 shows the design condition information, which represents the attributed identification information in Figure 4B as a string. In Figure 7, piping, which was not included in Figure 6, has been added as a component. Furthermore, the attribute information of the piping includes information about the piping route, such as the direction and length of the piping (e.g., {Z+_3500}), and design information not included in Drawing 1, such as the nominal diameter "300A" and the insulation thickness "30mm". In this way, by explicitly incorporating piping as a component and incorporating its direction and length information as an attribute, it is possible to handle drawings that include positional information such as symbols and piping routes. In other words, it is possible to efficiently create drawings that include information about the position of symbols such as equipment and valves that the plant has, as well as information about the piping route, such as the position, direction, and length of the piping.

[0041] In this embodiment, length and orientation information, nominal diameter, and insulation thickness were used as attributes of the piping, but other attributes such as design pressure and design temperature may also be used. Furthermore, the identification information acquisition unit 31 of the design support device 3 may input encoded information of symbols such as piping, pumps, and heat exchangers represented in the isometric drawing shown in Figure 3, and create attribute-based identification information. For example, the symbol related to the pump may be encoded as "P" and then stored as data. Moreover, the length of the piping and the symbol indicated by the arrow on the isometric drawing may be encoded and listed. For example, in the isometric drawing shown in Figure 3, for the branch pipe 301, which is piping "P-02-300" from branch BR of piping "P-01-300" to pump "Pump-01", the encoded numerical values ​​and symbols such as "P-01-300,(z-3500),Pump-01" may be stored as information separated by commas and arranged in the order of placement. This type of encoding compresses the amount of data that needs to be stored, allowing for efficient storage of vast amounts of data related to the piping and symbols that make up a plant.

[0042] The information input unit 33 outputs the design condition information created by the design support device 3 to the trained model 4. The user also inputs instructions to be performed using drawing 1 and design information 2 as instruction information 7 to the trained model 4 via the input device 1606. In this embodiment, the instructions given were "add a valve to the isometric drawing" and "create a symbol list." The symbol list is a list of symbols included in the isometric drawing.

[0043] The pre-trained model 4 is a model that has been pre-trained with a large amount of drawings and design information, and is a type of generative AI model that generates text in response to instructions. The content that pre-trained model 4 has learned is design condition information as shown in Figure 7. As explained earlier, the design condition information includes stringified plant drawing information, so it can read and add missing information from pre-trained model 4 to complement and reflect the symbols and piping included in the instructions entered by the user. For example, pre-trained model 4 has learned various plant configurations such as the location of piping and symbols, information on the length and orientation of piping, nominal diameter, insulation thickness, design pressure, and temperature information, as design condition information expressed as strings from the isometric drawing shown in Figure 3 and the design information shown in Figure 4A, with attributed identification information.

[0044] In other words, the trained model 4 learns the attributes of symbols and piping included in the design condition information shown in Figure 7, as well as the plant configuration including those symbols and piping, and stores the learning results. This trained model 4 is read out by the result output unit 34 and displayed on the output device 1605. Therefore, the trained model 4 can compare this stored information with the user's instructions and output a new revised drawing 5 that reflects the user's instructions, as well as a symbol list 6 including the piping and symbols included in the revised drawing 5. The following will explain using a specific example.

[0045] This section describes the case where the design support device 3 receives an instruction from the user, specifically the instruction "Add a valve to the isometric drawing." The isometric drawing to which the valve will be added is assumed to be one that the user has selected in advance.

[0046] Figure 8 shows an example of a modified drawing 5 output by the trained model 4 in response to the instruction to "add valves to the isometric drawing." In Figure 8, valves "VG-01-50" and "VG-02-50" are installed on the piping connected to the top of pumps "Pump-01" and "Pump-02," respectively. Furthermore, the height at which these valves are installed is the same. This is a result of the trained model 4 reading the attributes of piping, such as the position, length, and orientation of piping and symbols included in isometric drawings with configurations that approximate the isometric drawing selected by the user to a certain extent, from the accumulated design condition information, and learning drawings in which valves are arranged in parallel. The result output unit 34 outputs such a trained drawing output by the trained model 4 as modified drawing 5. In this example, modified drawing 5 is described as the trained drawing described above, but it does not necessarily have to be a trained drawing. In other words, as explained above, it is also possible to output a drawing representing the symbols and piping included in the design condition information, which is created by converting attribute-attached identification information based on drawing 1 and design information 2 according to a format called SFILES, as a modified drawing 5 of drawing 1.

[0047] Next, we will explain the case where the design support device 3 receives the instruction "Create a symbol list" as instruction information 7 from the user. Figure 9 is a diagram showing an example of a symbol list 6 output by the trained model 4 in response to the instruction "Create a symbol list". In Figure 9, the symbol list includes two pumps and a heat exchanger included in the modified drawing 5, which is a modified isometric drawing selected by the user. In this embodiment, the symbol list 6 stores the identification number for identifying a symbol, the symbol number of the symbol identified by that identification number, the symbol type indicating the type of symbol identified by that symbol number, and the connection pipe number for identifying the piping connected to that symbol, in an associated manner. For example, the symbol identified by identification number "1" is a pump with the symbol number "Pump-01" and is connected to the piping identified as "P-01-300-02". Although Figure 9 shows pumps and piping, valves included in the modified drawing 5 shown in Figure 8 are output to the list in a similar manner. In addition, in this embodiment, the design condition information is expressed as a string indicating the connection relationships of symbols and piping, which are components of the plant, but it may also be expressed as a graph structure. In this case, symbols and pipe branching points are treated as nodes, and pipes are treated as edges, with the attributes of the constituent elements represented as attribute information of the nodes and edges.

[0048] A concrete example is shown in Figure 10. Figure 10 is a graph structure representing the isometric diagram of Figure 3, consisting of nodes N1 to N4 and three edges E1 to E3. Here, N1 represents the pump "Pump-02", N2 represents the branch "Branch-01", N3 represents the heat exchanger "HEX-01", and N4 represents the pump "Pump-01". Edge E1 represents the piping "P-01-300-01", edge E2 represents the piping "P-01-300-02", and edge E3 represents the piping "P-02-300". By using such a graph structure, the information from the isometric diagram can be represented. Furthermore, attribute information can be assigned to the nodes and edges of the graph. For example, by assigning attributes such as "Z+_3500, Y-_2400" (pipe orientation and length), "300A" (nominal diameter), and "30mm" (insulation thickness) to edge E1, the same information as the design condition information shown in Figure 7 can be represented in a graph structure. In addition, since the graph structure data can be learned by a graph neural network, by learning a large amount of data in the form of graph structures of isometric drawings, it is possible to learn typical symbol configurations and arrangement information, and modify the drawing according to instructions such as "add a valve to the isometric drawing."

[0049] As demonstrated in the above embodiment, the design support device in this embodiment makes it possible to modify and add to drawings, even isometric drawings that include symbols of various attributes and piping route information. In other words, it can assist in the creation of drawings that represent piping routes connecting symbols such as equipment and valves, similar to isometric projection drawings. As described above, according to this embodiment, as explained using Figures 1, 3, 4A, 4B, 7, etc., in a design support device (design support device 3) that assists in the creation of plant design drawings using a computer having a processor and memory, the processor generates information that will be the basis for design condition information for creating the design drawing (for example, attributed identification information shown in Figure 4B) (identification information acquisition unit 31) based on drawing information (for example, drawing 1 shown in Figure 3) which includes information about symbols constituting the design drawing and information about piping including at least orientation, and design information about the piping not shown in the drawing information (for example, design information 2 shown in Figure 4A), generates design condition information (for example, attributed identification information shown in Figure 4B) which will be the basis for design condition information for creating the design drawing, generates design condition information (for example, SFILES format described in Non-Patent Document 1) which will be converted from the basis information (for example, SFILES format described in Non-Patent Document 1) (design condition information generation unit 32), and outputs a design drawing that represents the symbols and piping included in the generated design condition information as modified drawing information (for example, modified drawing 5) (result output unit 34). With this configuration, design drawings that represent the positions of symbols and the routes of piping can be efficiently created.

[0050] Furthermore, as explained using Figure 1, etc., when the processor receives instructions from an input device (for example, input device 1606) regarding the modified drawing information using the drawing information and design information desired by the user (for example, instruction information 7, "Add a valve to the isometric drawing"), it outputs the drawing information that reflects the instructions as the modified drawing information, based on a model (for example, a trained model 4) that has accumulated the design condition information learned in advance based on the drawing information and design information, the generated design condition information, and the instructions. This makes it possible to automatically create a drawing that reflects the user's instructions by referring to design condition information with similar components that have been generated and accumulated from the drawing information and design information in the past.

[0051] Furthermore, as explained using Figures 3 and 4A, the processor reads from the design information the connection relationships between the symbols identified from the drawing information, and the connection information of the same pipes that connect the symbols through those relationships. It then generates the source information, including the pipe connection information (for example, pipe number "P-02-300" in Figure 4A) as information not shown in the drawing information, and generates the design condition information. As a result, connection information not described in the drawing information, such as in Figure 3, can also be output as design condition information, and a drawing including such undescribed connection information can be automatically created.

[0052] Furthermore, as explained using Figure 3, etc., the processor takes the isometric projection of the piping as input as drawing information, so it can efficiently create isometric projections, which are commonly used as design drawings for plants, while representing the positions of symbols and the routes of the piping.

[0053] Furthermore, as explained using Figure 7, the processor inputs an isometric projection of the piping, including its length in addition to its orientation, as drawing information, and generates the source information and design condition information. This enables the generation of design condition information including the length of the piping in addition to its orientation, and the automatic creation of design drawings that reflect the orientation and length of the piping.

[0054] Furthermore, as explained using Figure 4, etc., the processor inputs at least one of the following attributes of the piping as design information for the piping: nominal diameter, wall thickness, material, insulation thickness, design pressure, and design temperature. It then generates the source information and the design condition information, thereby automatically creating a design drawing that reflects the attributes of such piping.

[0055] Furthermore, as explained using Figure 7, the processor generates information as design condition information that represents the connection relationships of the plant's components, such as equipment, valves, and piping, as well as at least the orientation and length of the piping, as a series of strings. This reduces the amount of data to be processed and alleviates the processing load, even when handling large amounts of drawing information and design information that include symbols and piping representing the plant's components.

[0056] Furthermore, as explained using Figure 10, etc., the processor represents the design condition information by using the piping as edges, the symbols as nodes, and the branching points of the piping as nodes, and the attribute information of each component as attributes of the nodes and attributes of the edges. This makes it easier to understand the characteristics of the components that make up the plant.

[0057] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and in the implementation stage, the components can be modified and implemented without departing from the gist of the invention, or the multiple components disclosed in the embodiments can be appropriately combined. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0058] 1 Drawing 2 Design information 3 Design support equipment 4. Pre-trained models 5. Revised Drawings 6. Symbol List 31. Identification Information Acquisition Unit 32 Design condition information generation section 33 Information Input Section 34 Result Output Section

Claims

1. A design support device that assists in the creation of plant design drawings using a computer having a processor and memory, The aforementioned processor, Based on the information relating to the symbols constituting the design drawing, the drawing information including at least the orientation of the piping, and the design information of the piping not shown in the drawing information, information that forms the basis of the design condition information for creating the design drawing is generated. Design condition information is generated by converting the aforementioned source information in a predetermined format. The design drawing representing the symbols and piping included in the generated design condition information is output as revised drawing information. A design support device characterized by the following features.

2. In the design support device according to claim 1, The aforementioned processor, When instructions regarding modified drawing information using the user-desired drawing information and design information are input from the input device to the design support device, Based on a model that has accumulated design condition information learned in advance based on the drawing information and the design information, the generated design condition information, and the instructions, the drawing information reflecting the instructions is output as the modified drawing information. A design support device characterized by the following features.

3. A design support device according to claim 1, The aforementioned processor, The connection relationships between the symbols identified from the drawing information, and the connection information of the same piping that connects the symbols through those connection relationships, are read from the design information. The original information, including the connection information of the piping as information not shown in the drawing information, is generated to generate the design condition information. A design support device characterized by the following features.

4. A design support device according to claim 1, The aforementioned processor, As the drawing information, input an isometric projection of the piping. A design support device characterized by the following features.

5. A design support device according to claim 4, The aforementioned processor, In addition to the orientation of the piping, an isometric projection of the piping, including its length, is input as drawing information. The original information and the design condition information are generated by A design support device characterized by the following features.

6. A design support device according to claim 4, The aforementioned processor, At least one of the following attributes of the piping is input as design information for the piping: nominal diameter, wall thickness, material, insulation thickness, design pressure, and design temperature. The original information and the design condition information are generated by A design support device characterized by the following features.

7. A design support device according to claim 1, The aforementioned processor, As the design condition information, information is generated that represents the connection relationships of the components of the plant, such as equipment, valves, and piping, and at least the orientation and length of the piping, among the attributes of the components, as a series of strings. A design support device characterized by the following features.

8. A design support device according to claim 1, The aforementioned processor, The design condition information is expressed as follows: the piping is an edge, the symbol is a node, and the branching points of the piping are nodes, with the attribute information of each component being represented as the attributes of the node and the attributes of the edge. A design support device characterized by the following features.

9. A design support method that uses a computer to assist in the creation of design drawings for a plant, Based on the information relating to the symbols constituting the design drawing, the drawing information including at least the orientation of the piping, and the design information of the piping not shown in the drawing information, information that forms the basis of the design condition information for creating the design drawing is generated. Design condition information is generated by converting the aforementioned source information in a predetermined format. The design drawing representing the symbols and piping included in the generated design condition information is output as revised drawing information. A design support method characterized by the following features.

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