What are Engineering Symbols? Symbols Used in Engineering
Engineering symbols are the graphical representations used in various engineering disciplines which are used for specific information and instructions. These symbols help engineers to communicate through engineering drawings, technical diagrams, layouts, technical catalogues and schematic presentations for manufacturing and production.
Here are some commonly used engineering symbols are as follows,
1. Dimension Symbols: The dimensional symbols are the representation of symbols that used in engineering drawings, blueprints and technical diagrams. These symbols provide precise information about size, shape and position of various objects and components.
– Diameter (⌀): It represents the diameter of a circle.
– Length (L): It indicates the length of a line or an object.
– Width (W): It denotes the width of an object.
2. Mechanical Symbols: The mechanical symbols are the representation of symbols that used in bill of materials and assemblies of an engineering layouts and drawings. These symbols provide an information about gears, springs, bearings, etc. used in bill of materials and in component.
– Gear: It represents gears or a gear system.
– Spring: It indicates a spring element or component.
– Bearing: It represents a bearing or a rotating support element.
– Motor: It denotes an electric motor.
3. Electrical Symbols: The electrical symbols are the representation of symbols that used in electrical circuit diagrams, connection diagrams and PCB drawings. These symbols provide an information about the location of resisters, capacitors, transformers in a circuit.
– Resistor (R): It represents a resistor in an electrical circuit.
– Capacitor (C): It indicates a capacitor in an electrical circuit.
– Transformer (T): It represents a transformer in an electrical circuit.
– Ground (⏚): it denotes the earth or ground connection.
4. Fluid Power Symbols: The fluid power symbols are the representation of symbols that used in the piping layouts and drawings. These symbols provide an information about hydraulic pumps, cylinders, filters used in piping drawings.
– Hydraulic Pump: It represents a hydraulic pump or power unit.
– Valve: It indicates various types of valves used in fluid systems.
– Cylinder: It denotes a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder.
– Filter: It represents a fluid filter or filtration system.
5. Structural Symbols: The structural symbols are the representation of symbols that used in the engineering drawings, layouts, civil construction elevations. These symbols provide a precise information about location of truss, beam, column, foundation.
– Beam: It represents a structural beam or load-bearing element.
– Column: It indicates a structural column or vertical support.
– Truss: It denotes a truss structure or framework.
– Foundation: It represents a foundation or base element.
6. Process Flow Symbols: The process flow symbols are the representation of symbols that used in the engineering layouts and piping drawings. These symbols provide an information about the location of tank, valve, pump in a drawing.
– Arrow: It represents the direction of flow in a process.
– Tank: It denotes a storage tank or vessel.
– Pump: It represents a pump in a fluid or process system.
– Valve: It indicates various types of valves used in a process.
These are an example of engineering symbols used across different engineering disciplines. It is very important to used engineering symbols as their application as it can vary based on specific standards or conversations by established organizations such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or the American National Standards Institutes (ANSI).
Symbols Used in Engineering:
Here are some of the most used symbols in engineering are as follows,
| Sr. No. | Letter | Symbol |
| 1 | Pi | π |
| 2 | Alpha | α |
| 3 | Beta | β |
| 4 | Delta | δ |
| 5 | Gamma | γ |
| 6 | Zeta | ζ |
| 7 | Lambda | λ |
| 8 | Sigma | σ |
| 9 | Tau | τ |
| 10 | Phi | φ |
| 11 | Omega | ω |
| 12 | Psi | ψ |
| 13 | Iota | ι |
| 14 | Eta | η |
| 15 | Omicron | ο |
| 16 | Upsilon | υ |
| 17 | Chi | χ |
| 18 | Rho | ρ |
| 19 | Xi | ξ |
| 20 | Nu | ν |
| 21 | Mu | μ |
| 22 | Epsilon | ε |
