Deep Learning-Based Method to Recognize Line Objects and Flow Arrows from Image-Format Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams for Digitization

As part of research on technology for automatic conversion of image-format piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) into digital P&ID, the present study proposes a method for recognizing various types of lines and flow arrows in image-format P&ID. The proposed method consists of three steps. In the first step of preprocessing, the outer border and title box in the diagram are removed. In the second step of detection, continuous lines are detected, and then line signs and flow arrows indicating the flow direction are detected. In the third step of post-processing, using the results of line sign detection, continuous lines that require changing of the line type are determined, and the line types are adjusted accordingly. Then, the recognized lines are merged with flow arrows. For verification of the proposed method, a prototype system was used to conduct an experiment of line recognition. For the nine test P&IDs, the average precision and recall were 96.14% and 89.59%, respectively, showing high recognition performance.