Equipment Module

An Equipment Module groups related Engineering Items — valves and instruments — into a reusable functional unit. Equipment Modules use a template-based system: you define a template with named item slots, then describe the operating modes of that equipment as Configurations (resting snapshots) and Equipment Phases (transitions between snapshots). Process logic references the slots by name, so the same logic reuses across every physical instance of the template.

💡 In pharmaceutical terms: an Equipment Module represents a group of Engineering Items that always work together — a tank inlet assembly (inlet valve + vent valve + pressure transmitter), a CIP supply manifold, or a transfer path between vessels. Grouping them lets you write your process logic once and reuse it across multiple physical configurations.

🧩 Core concepts

The four layers

✅ The key benefit: process logic references item slots by name ("Inlet Valve = Open") rather than specific item names, making the logic reusable across configurations.

The configuration template form

The Configuration Template form is the table view of a module's definition. Item slots are rows, Configurations are columns, and each cell shows the full operating specification for that item in that configuration — not just a state name.

Each cell renders as a scannable summary: a coloured bullet for the state, the state name, the percent (when the state is percentual), a yellow tag pill carrying the count of in-state attributes, and a blue gear pill carrying the controlling instrument's nickname or short code. Click any cell once to open the Configuration Cell Editor.

For the full anatomy of a rich cell, the cell editor's state-versus-control modes, typed attributes, and how Configurations and Equipment Phases are built and applied, see Equipment Module Configurations & Phases. For the graphical Overview and per-phase canvases, see Equipment Module Workspace & SFC Editors.

📖 How to: create an Equipment Module

Method 1: Create from a drawing selection (interactive)

The fastest way to create one or more Equipment Modules, driven directly by a P&ID selection. The Create Equipment Module command opens an interactive review window where you fine-tune the template, item names, and instrument nicknames before anything is committed.

Workflow

1. Select the Engineering Items on the P&ID that belong together. Both valves and instruments are picked up — any mix works.

2. Run the Create Equipment Module command (from the Equipment Module Ribbon or by typing ASEPTSOFTCreateEquipmentModule). If nothing is selected, the command prompts you to pick entities in the drawing.

3. Review the proposed module in the window that opens:

   • The module gets an auto-generated name, pre-selected in the editable name box at the top — just type to rename it.

   • A new Configuration Template is pre-proposed with one slot per selected valve, slot names matching the valve names.

   • Detected instruments appear in their own list, each with an editable nickname box (defaulting to the instrument name) — so the instrument-item slots are named the way you want at the moment of creation, not as a separate later step.

   • Each valve-to-slot link is shown in the grid and can be re-mapped via the dropdown.

4. Optionally add more modules in the same session with ➕ Add another EM. The window hides, AutoCAD prompts for a fresh selection, and the window reopens with the new module added — preserving all earlier choices.

5. Confirm with 🧩 Create (or press Enter while the name box has focus). All selected modules are created at once and the ribbon gallery refreshes immediately.

Per-module adjustments in the window

💡 Zero-click path: if you are happy with the default name, template, and 1:1 valve→slot mapping, just press Enter to create the module immediately. Press Esc at any time to cancel without creating anything.

Method 2: Manual creation in Module Data

1. Open Module Data from the Module Ribbon Data panel.

2. Go to the Equipment Modules tab.

3. Create a new Equipment Module and name it.

4. Define item slots — add valve slots and instrument slots to the template.

5. Create configurations — add named configurations and fill in each cell.

6. Assign items — for each configuration, pick which physical Engineering Item fills each slot.

Method 3: Bulk import from Excel

To import many Equipment Modules at once from a workbook, see Import Equipment Modules from Excel. The same review window is used, with an additional Excel-driven data column for cell values.

⚙️ Configurations and Equipment Phases

Each template carries two kinds of definition for the same equipment:

• A Configuration is a resting snapshot — the complete set of cell values describing the equipment in one operating mode.

• An Equipment Phase is a trajectory — an ordered sequence of control steps that carries the equipment from a Start configuration to a Result configuration.

Both can be plugged into a process step. The crossing of a process step and an Equipment Module in the Valve Phase Matrix is a single assignable cell: choose a Configuration to apply a snapshot, or an Equipment Phase to apply the trajectory's destination. The cell dropdown interleaves each Configuration with the Phases that end in it, so you can read snapshot-versus-trajectory at a glance.

📋 Full detail — rich cells, the cell editor, building phases with start/result/end-step, the matrix dropdown, and Excel round-trip — lives on Equipment Module Configurations & Phases.

🖼️ The Workspace & SFC editors

The graphical home for an Equipment Module is the combined Workspace: the Overview (all Configurations and Phases as a sequential function chart) on the left, and the per-phase control-step editor on the right. Open it from the SFC Editor button on the Equipment Module Ribbon, or the Overview button on the module / template forms.

The canvases support snap-to-grid dragging, clean orthogonal edge routing, distinct START/END configuration cards bracketing a phase's steps, inline edge-condition editing with intellisense, and one-click PDF export. See Equipment Module Workspace & SFC Editors for the full tour.

📋 Properties

Equipment Module

Configuration Template

Configuration Item

🛡️ Valve exclusivity

Each valve can belong to at most one Equipment Module across the entire project. This rule is enforced consistently across every creation and import method:

ℹ️ To move a valve between modules: first remove it from its current module (via Module Data or the Remove Item action on the Equipment Module ribbon), then add it to the target module.

🎨 Highlighting on the P&ID

When an Equipment Module is active or selected, its components can be highlighted on the drawing using the module's colour. The toggle and appearance settings live on the Equipment Module Ribbon. For the full highlighting workflow, see Equipment Module Highlighting.

🏭 Example: Tank Inlet Module (pharma)

A typical pharmaceutical tank inlet module groups the Engineering Items at the top of a process vessel:

Template: "Tank Inlet Module"

Configurations

With this setup, a process step can reference "Inlet Valve = Open" and it applies to the correct physical item (XV-101, XV-201, or XV-301) depending on which configuration is active.

🏭 Example: CIP supply manifold

🛠️ Common operations

🔗 Related pages

• Equipment Module Configurations & Phases — rich cells, building configurations and phases, applying them, Excel round-trip

• Equipment Module Workspace & SFC Editors — the graphical Overview and per-phase editors

• Equipment Module Highlighting — colouring module valves on the drawing

• Valve Phase Matrix — assigning Configurations and Phases into process steps

• 📋 Module Data — all module data types

• Equipment Module Ribbon — Equipment Module ribbon controls

• Engineering Item — individual components that fill template slots

• Import Equipment Modules from Excel — bulk import workflow

• 🧠 Algorithm Design — using Equipment Modules in condition logic

• 📐 Process Design — using Equipment Module configurations in process steps