Useful resources and online tools

Webplot digitiser

Have you ever needed to input a pump curve into excel and you’ve only got a PDF? Or worse still, a microfilm scan or photocopy of the curve from 1962?

Good news! No longer do you have to input all the points manually, Web plot digitiser is here! Simply load your curve as an image, align the axes, click down the curve (there’s also a automatic detection tool), and export as a .csv.

https://apps.automeris.io/wpd/ https://github.com/ankitrohatgi/WebPlotDigitizer

LaTeX equation generator

Great for previewing equations in LaTeX notation.

https://latex.codecogs.com/eqneditor/editor.php

iPad note taking and drawing

As we head further into the paperless world, I have found myself making more and more use of digital note-taking tools at work (for the day-to-day rather than long term notes like this website). To save myself some time I’ve put together a series of templates and common paper types that can be used with your favourite note-taking app—I’ve tried and tested these with Goodnotes and an iPad to great success. They’re ideal for Chemical Engineers, Process Engineers, Piping Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, and Civil/Structural Engineers.

See here for more information and a link to the Etsy listing. If you’re a student please get in touch at contact@casualprocessengineer.com and I will send you a discount code.

Flow-sheeting

A fantastic free and web-based diagramming tool is draw.io. I have used this to great effect where paid tools like MS visio are not available.

This is great for basic flowcharts, but its big strength for me is drafting block flow diagrams, PFDs, and even P&IDs as there is an extensive process engineering shape library included as standard.