PipeplannAR in practical use

Complex plant environments, tight spaces, and a lack of as-built data are a daily reality in many projects. This results in a significant amount of work in piping design, especially during renovations and expansions: facilities must be re-modeled, obstructing contours must be recorded, and piping routes must be coordinated multiple times.

Together with Neuhaus Neotec and Amandus Kahl, we therefore tested PipeplannAR exactly where planning must later function—directly in the real plant environment.

Planning without a complete building model

The key difference from traditional planning processes:
With PipeplannAR, there is no need to first model the entire environment in CAD. Instead, only the new piping is planned, while the real environment is integrated directly into the planning process using augmented reality.

Beams, ventilation ducts, existing systems, or tight penetrations become immediately visible and can be taken into account in real time during route planning.

This results in a significantly more efficient workflow:

• Direct route planning within the actual building
• Quick adjustments in response to obstacles
• Immediate collision detection
• Fewer coordination cycles before ordering materials

Direct integration of the design into subsequent processes

PipeplannAR doesn’t stop at visualization. Reusable data for downstream processes is automatically generated during the design phase:

• Automatic bills of materials
• CAD-compatible 3D files
• Installation guidelines for on-site implementation
• Clamping ring analyses for added planning reliability

Practical experience to date demonstrates significant potential:

• Up to 70% time savings in planning
• Up to 50% reduction in over-ordering
• Less manual measurement
• Faster decisions directly on-site

Particularly effective for renovations and expansions

The project partners currently see the greatest added value in brownfield projects. This is precisely where traditional planning processes often reach their limits: old 2D plans no longer match reality, changes were never documented, or the actual installation layout differs significantly from the existing conditions.

With PipeplannAR, the real environment itself becomes the basis for planning. At the same time, we can incorporate planned machinery directly into the virtual environment, using either finished CAD drawings or placeholders in the correct scale.

Field tests as a crucial development step

The joint field test not only revealed potential but also provided valuable insights for further development.
In particular, large hall structures, long corridors, or changing lighting conditions currently still pose special challenges to the spatial stability of the display. This is precisely why field tests under real-world conditions are crucial: they provide the insights from which real industrial solutions emerge.

Voice of the Customer
“In our view, the approach of modeling only the new piping and using augmented reality to ‘calculate’ the surrounding environment is very compelling and significantly reduces the modeling workload in the office.”

Especially for:

• Existing facilities
• Renovations
• Plant expansions

The project partners see clear potential for savings in terms of time and measurement accuracy.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Neuhaus Neotec and Amandus Kahl for their open collaboration, honest feedback, and participation in the joint field test.