Equipment Module Configurations & Phases

A Configuration Template carries two complementary kinds of definition for the same physical equipment. A Configuration is a still photograph — the complete set of valve states (plus percent openings, in-state attributes, and instrument control) that describes the equipment at rest in one operating mode. An Equipment Phase is a short film — a trajectory of control steps that carries the equipment from one configuration to another. This page explains how to build both, how to apply them into a process step, and how to move the whole picture through Excel.

💡 The mental model: a Configuration answers "what does this equipment look like right now?" — for example CIP Caustic Recirculation. An Equipment Phase answers "how does it get from here to there?" — for example Caustic Wash, which runs a sequence of control steps and ends in the CIP Caustic Recirculation configuration.

⚙️ Rich configuration cells

Every Configuration is a column in the template matrix, and every item slot is a row. The cell where they cross holds far more than a single state name — it captures the full operating specification of that item in that configuration.

What a cell can carry

The matrix shows each cell as a compact, scannable summary: a coloured bullet for the state, the state name, the percent, a yellow tag pill carrying the count of in-state attributes (hover to read the full list), and a blue gear pill carrying the controlling instrument's nickname or short code. You can tell at a glance which cells are "decorated" and which are plain — without opening anything.

Item types and compatible states

Each item slot carries a type — Valve, Tank, Pump, or Heat Exchanger — shown as a small chip under the item nickname. The type controls which states are offered when you edit a cell: a Pump slot only offers pump-appropriate states (Running, Stopped), a Valve slot offers valve states (Open, Closed), and so on. Use the Change Type entry on a row to switch a slot's type.

Editing a cell

Click any cell once to open the Configuration Cell Editor. The editor is built around a single rule: a cell is either a direct state assignment or it is under instrument control — never both.

Configuration Cell Editor

1. A two-button mode selector sits at the top: Set state or Under instrument control.

2. In Set state mode you pick the state (filtered to the slot's type), set the percent (shown only when the state is percentual), and fill in the in-state attributes. The attributes section appears only when the chosen state actually defines attribute keys — a plain "Open" with no keys shows no empty attributes box.

3. In Under instrument control mode you pick the controlling instrument item and, optionally, a short code override. The state, percent, and attribute fields disappear because they don't apply.

4. Save. The cell now shows the decorated summary in the matrix.

⚠️ Why the exclusivity rule matters: a valve specified as "Open at 80% with attributes" and "Controlled by PIT-101" is a contradictory specification — pharma SOPs treat a fixed manual state and automatic control as two different operating modes of the same valve. Forcing one mode per cell keeps the configuration honest.

Typed in-state attributes

In-state attributes adapt their editor to the kind of value the state defines: a true/false attribute is a checkbox, a selection attribute is a pick-list of its allowed options, and numeric or free-text attributes use a text box. This means a "Recirculate" flag is a tick box and a "Cycle mode" attribute is a drop-down — no typing exact spellings.

🔄 Equipment Phases

An Equipment Phase is a named sequence of control steps that moves the equipment along a trajectory. Each phase reads as a complete Start configuration → control steps → Result configuration story.

What a phase carries

Start and Result configurations

Both bindings are editable everywhere a phase appears — on the template form's phase row, in the phase's own editor toolbar, and on the Overview canvas. Each opens a picker that includes a (None) entry so you can clear a binding. Pressing Cancel in the picker leaves the existing binding untouched; choosing (None) explicitly clears it — the two are distinct, so cancelling never wipes a connection by accident.

Phase colour

A phase mirrors its result configuration's colour automatically, so if you re-colour the destination configuration the phase follows in real time. To diverge, open the colour picker on the phase and choose a fixed colour; to return to mirroring, clear the override. This keeps the visual story consistent unless you deliberately break it.

End steps for looping phases

Some phases circulate without formally terminating — a recirculation loop, for example. Such a phase may have no result configuration. Designate one of its control steps as the End step and that step's actions become the phase's terminal valve states when the phase is applied. A phase with neither a result configuration nor an end step writes empty (grey) states when applied, which is a clear visual cue that the trajectory has no defined terminus yet.

Editing a phase's control steps

Open a phase's editor to add control steps, wire transitions between them, and edit each step's actions. A step's actions carry the same rich payload as a configuration cell — state, percent, in-state attributes, and instrument control — edited through the same kind of details popup with the same mode toggle and typed attributes. See Equipment Module for the combined editing workspace where this happens.

📥 Applying a Configuration or Phase into a process step

The crossing of a process step (phase) and an Equipment Module in the Valve Phase Matrix is a single assignable cell. You can drop either a Configuration or an Equipment Phase into it.

How each assignment resolves

The matrix cell dropdown

Clicking an Equipment Module cell opens a dropdown listing every valid assignment for that module, ordered to tell a story:

1. For each Configuration in template order, the Configuration itself (a solid coloured circle + name), followed by

2. Every Phase that ends in that Configuration (a play icon tinted in the phase colour, the phase name, and a small → destination chip), then

3. All looping phases grouped together at the end (on a light-grey background).

Hovering an item previews the assignment live on the matrix without committing; moving away restores the cell. Clicking commits. The cell's header icon flips to a play icon when the cell is driven by a Phase rather than a Configuration, so you can read snapshot-versus-trajectory from the row label alone.

💡 Reading the dropdown: the interleaving says "CIP Caustic Recirculation is a resting configuration, and these phases — Caustic Wash, Caustic Top-Up — are different routes that bring the equipment to it." You see snapshot and trajectory side by side without leaving the dropdown.

Selecting an item applies it to every selected Equipment Module cell, matching the equivalent choice in each row, so you can paint a whole column of modules in one motion.

📊 Excel round-trip

Both the per-template Equipment Module export and the tabular Processes export carry the full rich-cell shape to and from Excel, so a spreadsheet review can be the single source of truth.

What a cell looks like in Excel

A decorated cell exports as a readable, humanised string that combines every fragment it carries: the state name, the percent, the in-state attributes in parentheses, and the controlling instrument after a gear marker. A plain state with no extras exports as just the state name. On re-import the same string is parsed back into state, percent, attributes, and control — nothing is lost in the trip.

Configurations and Phases both round-trip

In the tabular Processes export, the Equipment Module cell for a step writes the assigned Phase name when a phase is assigned, or the Configuration name otherwise — exactly what you see on screen. On re-import, the cell text is matched first against the module's Equipment Phases and then against its Configurations, so editing the spreadsheet and bringing it back keeps the same phase or configuration you picked.

✅ Round-trip identity: pick Caustic Wash (a phase ending in CIP Caustic Recirculation) in the matrix, export to Excel, and the cell reads "Caustic Wash" — not its destination configuration. Edit the spreadsheet, re-import, and the matrix still shows "Caustic Wash." No step collapses the trajectory to its destination snapshot.

For the bulk-import workflow that brings whole Equipment Modules in from a workbook, see Import Equipment Modules from Excel.

🏭 Worked example: a CIP skid

Consider a CIP supply manifold modelled as one Equipment Module with a template carrying valve slots (Supply, Return, Caustic Dosing, Acid Dosing) and an instrument slot (TIC-301, the temperature controller).

Now define an Equipment Phase Caustic Wash: Start configuration = WFI Pre-Rinse, Result configuration = Caustic Recirculation, with control steps that ramp the caustic dosing valve and bring TIC-301 under control. In a process step Caustic Wash Cycle, assign the Caustic Wash phase to this Equipment Module from the matrix dropdown. The step receives the Caustic Recirculation cell states — Supply/Return open, Caustic Dosing open at 40% — applied to the physical valves with full fidelity.

🔗 Related pages

• Equipment Module — building modules and the combined editing workspace

• Valve Phase Matrix — where Configurations and Phases are assigned into process steps

• Import Equipment Modules from Excel — bulk import workflow

• Process Design — process and step management