Flow diagram

**flow diagram**
	type of diagram representing a flow or set of dynamic relationships Flow diagram for the production of Ammonia
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English: A flow diagram is a diagram representing some kind of flow. The most known is the flowchart, often also called "flow diagram" but there are more different kind of flow diagrams.

History[edit]

Earlier examples

Tabula Peutingeriana, fourth or early fifth century.
Category:Portolan charts, since thirteenth century

18th century and earlier works

Wanderings in the desert map, 1641
Gemelli Map of the Aztec Migration from Aztlan to Chapultapec, 1704
Table of Hydraulics and Hydrostatics, Cyclopaedia, Volume 1, 1728
An Universal System of Water and Water-Works by Stephen Switzer, 1734
Tableau économique by Francois Quesnay, 1759
Engine elevation, a drawing with (small) arrows, 1797

19th century

General idea of ground to be drained, 1826
Flow map by Minard, 1845
Steam-engine for fan to withdrawing air from mines, 1854
Émigrants du Globe by Minard, 1858
Battlefield Of Gettysburg, 1863
Flow map by Minard, 1864
Steam engine cylinder side pipes with valves, 1866
Charles Minard's chart, 1869
Flow diagram of production process, 1870
Demand for Commodities is not Demand for Labor by John Stuart Mill, 1885
Foreign exchange by John Stuart Mill, 1885
Flow of costs in a factory by Metcalfe, 1885
Early data flow diagram, 1887/93
Diagram of Manufacturing Accounts, 1896
Diagram of Expenditure and Results, showing the relations between departments, 1897.
Sankey diagram, 1898

20th century, first half

Economic production and distribution by Seager, 1904
Flow diagram of Organization Elements of an Industrial Body, 1905
Systems of advertising, 1906
Economic Life triange by Nearing, 1909
Perspective routing diagram by Charles Day, 1911
Detail Routing Diagram by Charles Day, 1911
Graphic Representation of Processes and Routing in a Representative Plant, 1914
Routing Diagram for Materials and for Printing Forms in a Manufacturing Plant, 1914
Channels of distribution for various lines of goods by Nystrom, 1915.
Division of labour according to Taylor, 1916
Flow Process Chart, 1921/1948/2008
The Round Flow of Money Income and Expenditure, 1922
Traffic Flow Diagram, 1929
Flow diagram of steam generation process, 1930
Grey Iron Flow Diagram c. 1947

20th century, second half

Flow chart showing how interconnecting analog and digital computers , 1956
Vehicle servicing system flow diagram, 1958
Booster liquid oxygen system flow diagram, 1958
The competitive price system adapted from Samuelson, 1961
Block diagram of central computer and sequencer, 1963
Block diagram of pyrotechnics system, 1963
Functional block diagram of the attitude control and maneuvering electronics system, 1962
Functional block diagram of orbit determination operations, 1963
Functional block diagram of power subsystem, 1963
Telemetry-data flow chart, 1963
Tracking-data flow chart, 1963
Blast furnace, 1964
Flow diagram of Gas-Cooled Reactor. c. 1974.
Pump system flow diagram, 1979
U.S. sulfur flow diagram adapted from Ober, 1992
U.S aluminum flow diagram adapted from Wilburn and Wagner, 1993, consumption data from Plunkert, 2002a
Circular flow model by Hrubovcak, 1995
Development of Functional Flow Block Diagrams, 1995
Functional Flow Block Diagram for Mission Control, 1995
Lay out of production process with flow signs, 1995

21st century

Mail flow diagram, 2005
Functional Flow Block Diagram, 1950s/2007
Nassi–Shneiderman diagram, 1972/2012
Flow diagram for the production of Ammonia, 2010
Digitalisering infographic, 2013
Process Flow chart with separate production steps, 2014

General types of flow diagrams[edit]

Flow charts[edit]

The flowchart represents an algorithm, a process, or the step-by-step solution of a problem. See Category:Flow diagrams

Flow maps[edit]

Flow maps show the movement of objects from one location to another. See Category:Flow maps

Sankey diagram[edit]

Sankey diagram are a specific type of flow diagram, in which the width of the arrows is shown proportionally to the flow quantity. See Category:Sankey diagrams

Specific applications and specific types of diagrams[edit]

Flow diagrams in business administration and management[edit]

Accountancy diagrams: Main Category:Accounting diagrams

Books and Forms used in connection with Wages
Books and Forms used in connection with Stores
Books and Forms used in connection with Prime Cost
Books and Forms used in connection with Stock

Business flow models

Flow diagram of Organization Elements of an Industrial Body, 1905
Division of labour according to Taylor, 1916
IFMS Logical Business Architecture, 2005

Supply chain models

Systems of advertising, 1906
Channels of distribution for various lines of goods by Nystrom, 1915.

Flow diagrams in economics[edit]

Economic flow diagrams

Demand for Commodities is not Demand for Labor by John Stuart Mill, 1885
Foreign exchange by John Stuart Mill, 1885
1885
Economic production and distribution by Seager, 1904
Economic Life triange by Nearing, 1909
Method of payment for American purchase of foreign goods, 1919
Circuit flow of money by W.T. Foster, 1922

Economic circular flow diagram: Main Category:Economic circular flow diagrams

Economic circular flow diagram, since 1940s

Two sector circular flow diagram, 2008
Three sector circular flow diagram, 2011
Four sector circular flow diagram, 2009
Five sector circular flow diagram, 2006
With surroundings, 2008

See also

Cash flow diagram

Flow diagrams in engineering[edit]

Flow diagram of production process

Flow diagram of production process, 1870
Flow diagram of production process, since 1870s
Lay out of production process with flow signs, since 1940s

Process flow diagrams

A process flow diagram (PFD) is a diagram commonly used in chemical and process engineering to indicate the general flow of plant processes and equipment. See Category:Process flow diagrams

Flow diagram of a steam cycle power plant
Water flow diagram of a steam cycle power plant
Water cycles of a coal fired power station
Electrical energy distribution in a coal fired power plant

Sankey diagram

Birds Point-New Madrid Flow
U.S. Energy Flow Trends – 2002
Energy Flow of Electric Power Plant

Flow diagrams in geography[edit]

Maps on different levels: global, continental, national and local

Flow map, 1864
Flow map, 1845

Flow diagrams in systems engineering or software engineering[edit]

Activity diagram

An activity diagram is a diagram that shows activities and actions to describe workflows. It is in fact a specific type of flowchart, which shows a sequence of activities. See Category:Activity diagrams

Business Process Modeling Notation

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is a standardized graphical notation for drawing business processes in a workflow. See Category:Business Process Modeling Notation

Elements
Relations
Simple diagram
More complex diagram

Data flow diagram

A data flow diagram is a graphical representation of the flow of data through an information system. See Category:Data flow diagrams

Function Block Diagram

A Function Block Diagram (FBD) is a diagram, that describes a function between input variables and output variables. A function is described as a set of elementary blocks. Input and output variables are connected to blocks by connection lines. See Category:Function block diagrams

Functional Flow Block Diagrams

Functional Flow Block Diagrams (FFBD) are multi-tier, time-sequenced, step-by-step flow diagram of the system’s functional flow, see Category:Functional flow block diagrams

Building block
Simple diagram
Multiple levels
An application

IDEF0

IDEF0 is an Integration Definition for function Modeling, and is a common modeling technique for the analysis, development, re-engineering, and integration of information systems; business processes information modelling. See Category:IDEF0

IDEF Box Format
Arrow Syntax
Decomposition Structure
IDEF Diagram Example

Nassi-Shneiderman diagram

Nassi-Shneiderman diagram, see Category:Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams

Process-data diagram

A process-data diagram is a diagram that describes processes and data that act as output of these processes. See Category:Process-data diagram

Syntax diagrams

Syntax diagrams (also known as railroad diagrams) are a way to represent a context-free grammar. See Category:Syntax diagrams

UML Activity diagrams

An activity diagram in UML represents the business and operational step-by-step workflows of components in a system. An activity diagram shows the overall flow of control. See Category:UML Activity diagrams

Waterfall models: See also Category:Waterfall models

References[edit]

Complete Flowchart Guide

Flow diagram

Contents

History[edit]