Instrument Numbering Philosophy

Instrument Numbering is one of the most important factors that have to be considered while
preparing P&ID and other documents related to instruments.

Instrument Tagging Philosophy

The above image shows the basic structure of Instrument Numbering Philosophy. It includes
• Unit Number
• Instrument Type
• System Number
• Instrument Number Commented [ik1]:

Unit Number
It indicates the plant, area and unit in which the instrument is located Use basic number if project is
small, there are no area, unit or plant number. Eamples: PT-1 or PT-01 or PT-001
If project has a few areas, units or plants, then the first number of instrument number indicates plant
number
Example: PT-102 is an instrument located in plant 1

If project is big and is divided into areas, units or plants, a prefix is added before instrument type.
Example: 355-FT-0101 is an instrument located in area 3, unit 5 and plant 5.
Here 0101 indicates the loop number associated with the instrument

Instrument Type
Each instrument associated within an instrumented facility ought to have its own unique identifying
tag comprising of a series of letters depicting that instrument’s function. The naming of instrument
type is usually done by taking ISA 5.1 as reference. Below table indicates some of the instrument
types.

S.No. Type of Instrument Symbol

1 Pressure Gauge PI

2 Temperature Gauge TI

3 Level Gauge LI

4 Thermocouple TE(K)

5 RTD TE

6 Pressure Transmitter PT

7 Temperature Trarsmlitter TT

8 Level Transmitter LT

9 Flow Element FE

10 Flow Transmitter FT

11 Pressure Switch PS

12 Differential Pressure Switch DPS

13 Differential Pressure Indicating Switch DPIS

14 Differential Pressure Transmitter DPT

15 Temperature Switch TS
 S.No. Type of Instrument Symbol

16 Temperature Indicating Switch TIS

17 Level Switch LS

18 I/P Converter I/P

19 Position Transmitter ZT

20 Control Valve CV
Refer ISA 5.1 for more instrument types

Loop Numbering
System number and instrument number together called as loop number of an instrument Loop
number depicts the loop associated with an instrument and it should be helpful while creating loop
drawings. As per ISA 5.1 loop numbering may be parallel or series. According to ISA 5.1, in parallel
loop numbering, a process variable letter is coupled with a number to make the unique identifier.

• Accordingly, there might be a TIC-101, PIC-101 & LIC-101 since T101, P101 & L101
are unique and parallel.
• Each of those three letter and number sets define a different loop; they may be related,
but they are unique.
• This numbering system can be used effectively when the number is linked to a piece
of equipment, like a pump, where all the loops associated with pump101 would carry
that number within the tags as listed above.
As per ISA 5.1, In serial numbering, they are using a unique numerical sequence for each loop
without the process variable modifier, one number for each loop.

• Accordingly, there might be TIC-101, LR-102 and PIC-103, but not an TIC-101 and
PIC-101 since the pressure and temperature variables will get each a different
number.
• This is the simplest system to use and it is therefore probably the most common.
Finally, the numbering system chosen for your P&IDs and loops should be tested and confirmed to
guarantee that it works as expected with the various software applications used in your facility. Loop
number 1 and loop number 001 will have markedly different by some data sets and by the
maintenance planning and inventory control software.