Technical documentation

Technical documentation serves as the starting point for certification, so its development requires care and a responsible approach.

Operational and technical documentation, which includes information defined by standards and laws in the field of technical regulation, is necessary for obtaining certificates and declarations of compliance, receiving other permits, including industrial safety expertise conclusions, as well as meeting the equipment purchaser's requirements.

Common steps of developing technical documentation:

1. Requirement analysis,
2. Information gathering,
3. Document development,
4. Review and revision.

Technical Passport (EAC)

This is a technical document that contains key technical parameters and operational characteristics of the product, warranty obligations of the manufacturer, equipment lifecycle stages, and other details.

The passport is developed for a specific product and provides its identification. Depending on the type of product, it contains various sections, the main ones being:

• General product information;
• Purpose and technical characteristics;
• Delivery package;
• Product design;
• Installation rules;
• Storage and transport rules;
• Operating conditions;
• Product acceptance certificate;
• Manufacturer's warranty.

The technical passport is drawn up based on the following regulatory documentation:

• GOST R 2.601-2019 "Design documentation. Operational documents"
• GOST R 2.610-2019 "Design documentation. Rules for execution of operational documents"
• GOST 2.105-95 "Ddesign documentation. General requirements for text documents"
• GOST R 53672-2009 "Pipeline fittings. General safety requirements"
• GOST R 52630-2012 "Welded steel vessels and apparatus. General technical conditions"

Safety Justification (EAC)

This document contains a risk analysis, as well as details from design, operational, and technological documentation about the minimum necessary safety measures accompanying the equipment at all stages of the life cycle. It's supplemented with information about the results of risk assessment during operation after major repair.

The Safety Justification for machines is one of the mandatory documents for issuing certificates and declarations of compliance with TR CU 010 and TR CU 032, and it can describe several similar models of one product type.

The form, content, and rules for preparing the Safety Justification for machines and equipment are determined by GOST 33855-2016, which provides for two forms of the document:

1. Brief — suitable for compulsory compliance assessment of equipment to Technical Regulation standards.
2. Complete — used for submission to control and supervision bodies, contains exhaustive information about the equipment.

In addition to the rules for preparing the safety rationale, GOST 33855-2016 also recommends providing evidence of equipment safety. The Safety Justification includes:

1. General equipment description - application scope, operation rules, functional explanations, necessary user experience and qualification, etc.
2. Technical specifications and parameters of the equipment and its components.
3. Risk analysis - probability of a dangerous event, potential consequences in different situations, degree of risks, etc.
4. Evidence of equipment compliance with the requirements of technical regulations.

Operating Manual

The operating manual is part of the technical documentation set for machines and equipment used in hazardous production facilities, industrial technical devices, household appliances, electronics, and other types of products in most countries.

In the CIS region, general requirements for preparing operating instructions for any technical products, considering their specificity, are approved by the standard GOST R 2.601-2019 "Design documentation. Operational documents".

The rules for package composition and manual formatting are established by the standard GOST R 2.610-2019 "Design documentation. Rules for the Execution of Operational Documents".

For industrial equipment subject to regulation under TR CU 010/2011, the Manual should describe the operation of the equipment in a form accessible to a professional (and, if necessary, to a non-professional) user.

Information to be included in the manual:

• Name and/or designation of the equipment (type, mark, model);
• Information about the design, principle of operation, characteristics (properties) of the equipment
• Name and location of the manufacturer (local representative), importer, information for contacting them;
• Country of production;
• Month and year of production and/or information on the place of application and method of determining the year of manufacture;
• Purpose of the equipment;
• Rules and conditions for the installation or assembly of the equipment, its connection to the electrical network and other devices, start-up, set-up, commissioning and safe operation, maintenance and repair, storage, transportation, sale and disposal.
• Instructions on the use of the machine and (or) equipment and safety measures that must be observed during the operation of the machine and (or) equipment, including commissioning, purposeful use, maintenance, all types of repair, periodic diagnostics, testing, transportation, packaging, preservation and storage conditions;
• Restrictions on the use of a technical device, taking into account its purpose for working in residential, commercial and industrial areas;
• Assigned indicators (assigned shelf life, assigned service life and (or) assigned resource) depending on the design features. Upon expiry of the assigned indicators (assigned resource, shelf life, service life), the machine and (or) equipment is taken out of service and a decision is made to send them for repair, to dispose, to check and to establish new assigned indicators of service life);
• List of critical failures, possible erroneous personnel actions that lead to an incident or accident;
• Personnel actions in the event of an incident, critical failure or accident;
• Criteria of limiting states (“states of the object, in which its further operation is unacceptable or impractical, or the restoration of its operational state is impossible or impractical”);
• Information about the qualifications of service personnel;
• If the machine and (or) equipment is intended for operation by non-professional users, the operating manual (instruction) must take into account the knowledge, skills and experience of such users.

Strength Calculations (EAC)

A strength calculation is a mandatory document required to obtain a certificate/declaration of compliance with the requirements of TR CU 032/2013 "On safety of equipment operating under excess pressure".

The strength calculation is carried out in accordance with GOST 34233.1-2017 "Vessels and apparatus. Norms and methods of strength calculation. General requirements" and is performed for:

• vessels,
• apparatus,
• pipes and pipelines,
• assemblies, parts, fittings, detachable and non-detachable connections, assembly units,
• other equipment operating under pressure and subject to regulation under TR CU 032.

The mandatory program of simulated tests includes:

• Pressure tests of samples for tightness and strength to confirm the absence of working medium leaks or residual deformations exceeding permissible values,
• Creep and fatigue tests of materials, which are conducted taking into account the equipment operation processes.

If necessary, additional tests are conducted, taking into account the actions of other factors.

The input data for performing the calculation are:

• type of equipment (vessel, apparatus),
• parameters (geometric characteristics),
• material of equipment elements,
• characteristics of the materials used,
• support characteristics (type, location),
• load values,
• assembly and detailed drawings of equipment (vessel, apparatus, device),
• a general view of the most complex components of the equipment,
• for flange connections - a sectional view.

Types of possible failure processes considered in strength calculations:

• viscous or brittle fracture,
• material creep,
• material fatigue,
• corrosion cracking.

Key calculation parameters for selecting construction material and calculating apparatus elements for strength:

• calculation temperature
• calculation pressure
• welded joint strength coefficient.

In case of unsatisfactory strength results, recalculation is performed to achieve strength criteria compliance.