Beatrice Lang
AutoCAD Electrical is a powerful tool for creating electrical schematics for panel design. It offers a significant advantage over regular AutoCAD, which can be tedious and time-consuming for such tasks. One of AutoCAD Electrical's standout features is its ability to link various symbols that represent a single component, creating families of symbols. This capability streamlines the design process and reduces the effort required during the build and debug phases. When creating electrical components in AutoCAD Electrical, users can define relationships between symbols, such as parent/child or sibling symbols. This allows for efficient cross-referencing and navigation between components. The software also supports Multi-Pole Terminal Blocks or Multi-Level Terminals, enhancing its versatility in electrical design.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Connection type | Wired connection, with the option to select the direction of the connection (top, right, left) |
| Insertion | Use grid or object snap |
| Symbol creation | Utilise the Symbol Builder Attribute Editor, ensuring required fields are included for conversion into an Electrical symbol |
| Editing | Changes can be made in the block editor window before finalising |
| Symbol relationship | Parent/Child and Sibling relationships can be established to link symbols across multiple drawings, saving time and effort |
| Symbol linking | Linked symbols carry Device ID, BoM information, and enable cross-referencing |
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What You'll Learn
Creating electrical schematics for panel design
Firstly, it is essential to identify the required components by examining the schematic and categorizing each part by function, size, and identification number. This step ensures you have a clear understanding of the necessary elements before proceeding.
The next phase involves using the Circuit Builder feature, which provides access to prepopulated data for building and annotating motor control and power feed circuits. This feature saves time and effort by automatically assigning component tags and dynamically building the circuit.
Additionally, AutoCAD Electrical offers a comprehensive library of over 65,000 intelligent electrical symbols, enabling users to automate the numbering of wires and the generation of component tags. This automation ensures consistency and accuracy in your electrical schematics.
To further enhance your workflow, you can utilize the ability to generate multiple drawings from a single data file. This feature allows you to define a project's I/O assignments and automatically generate PLC drawings from various data sources, including spreadsheets, databases, or comma-delimited text files.
Once your schematic is complete, you can proceed to populate the Bill of Materials (BOM). This step involves properly organizing the components, schematizing them, and placing the panel before populating the BOM and incorporating it into your model.
By following these steps and utilizing the features of AutoCAD Electrical, you can efficiently create electrical schematics for panel design, reducing the time and tedium associated with traditional AutoCAD methods.
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Using the symbol builder attribute editor
To create electrical components in AutoCAD, you need to use blocks with attributes. These attributes determine the type of symbol the block is, which in turn dictates the block's behaviour.
To create a block, you first need to draw the required geometry and select the 'Symbol Builder' icon. Once open in the Block Editor, you will see the 'Symbol Builder Attribute Editor' on the left-hand side. This panel allows you to place 'Required' and 'Optional' attributes, as well as define 'Wire' and 'Link' connections.
The 'Symbol Builder Attribute Editor' gives you the option to select the attribute library you want to use, such as IEEE, IEC2, or JIS. You also need to define the behaviour of your symbol. For example, is it a parent or child component? Is it horizontal or vertical? Is it a schematic or panel component?
For wired connections, you will select whether the connection is coming from the top, right, left, or bottom of the symbol. You can insert it with either your grid or object snap on. The required field is the attribute that must be included in the symbol for it to convert into an electrical symbol. Once the attribute has been inserted, a green tick will appear on the left-hand side.
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Understanding parent/child symbols
Parent/child symbols in AutoCAD Electrical are used to represent different portions or aspects of a single component. For example, a relay consists of a coil and associated contacts, which can be shown on multiple pages of a schematic package. The parent symbol represents the main component, while the child symbols represent its different parts or variations.
The parent/child relationship allows users to tie various symbols together, creating a "family" of related components. This is particularly useful when a component needs to be represented in multiple drawings or on separate pages. For instance, if you need to split an inverter drive across multiple pages, separating the communications section from the power section, you can use a parent/child combination to indicate that it is still the same device.
When creating parent/child symbols, it is important to consider tag assignments. In some cases, the child symbols can carry the same TAG1 value as their parent, and any alternate tags can be hidden or typed into the description fields. However, if unique tags are required for the parent and child symbols, the WDTAGALT attribute method can be used to link them while allowing for separate tags.
By utilising parent/child symbols, users can save time and effort in the design, build, and debug phases of their projects. It allows for efficient cross-referencing and navigation between related components. Additionally, AutoCAD Electrical also offers "sibling" symbols, which can be used to tie together symbols represented in multiple drawings, such as a switch in a P&ID drawing and an input on a PLC.
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Setting up multi-pole terminal blocks
First, locate the SIEMENS 3-Pole Terminal Catalog # 8WA1 011-3DF21 in the Parts Catalog dialogue box. You can use the filter %Pole in the "Miscellaneous 1" Column to locate the multi-pole terminals in the Siemens database. Once you have located the correct catalog, proceed to the Insert/Edit Terminal Symbol dialogue box. Here, you will notice that there is initially only one Level defined as SINGLE. To associate the other two poles, you need to add two more levels to this item.
To do this, select the BLOCK PROPERTIES button, which will open the Terminal Block Properties dialogue box. In this dialogue box, make the following changes: [Detailed information on the changes to be made was not found]. Once you have made the necessary changes, select OK to save the changes and exit.
Now that the correct number of levels is set in the "Master" terminal, you can associate the other two terminals. To do this, go to the Schematic tab of the Ribbon Menu and, under the Edit Components panel, select the ASSOCIATE TERMINALS tool. On the command line, select the "Master" terminal that you just set up.
To verify the graphical representation of the terminal block, change to the LAYOUT PREVIEW tab. You can set the Annotation Format on both sides of the terminal to %W (%G) %1 and then click UPDATE. Note that only one line will update in the preview window. After clicking INSERT, you will see the wire annotation for the first pole, but you may require the wiring information for all poles.
To address this, return to the LAYOUT PREVIEW tab of the Terminal Footprints EDITOR. Use AutoCAD's WBLOCK command and, in the Write Block dialogue box, set the Source to Block and the drop-down to 1011-3df. For the Destination File name and path, use the Browse button to create the Footprint drawing in the same folder as your project drawing. Ensure that the drawing is named exactly the same as the Footprint Block name, including the file extension .dwg.
By following these steps, you can correctly set up and associate multi-pole terminal blocks in AutoCAD Electrical, ensuring that the wiring information is accurately represented for each pole.
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$50
Surfing between components
On the desktop version, the Surf function is powered by data from the project database. To use the Surf feature, simply tap the Surf icon at the top right of the screen to activate the Surf panel. From there, you can tap and select a component that you wish to surf. The corresponding reference data and related components will be displayed in the Surf panel, allowing you to navigate to your desired destination.
For AutoCAD Electrical 2015 users, a plugin will automatically generate a folder named 'EXPORTED_MOBILE_DATA' upon opening and activating a project. This folder contains the necessary files for surfing through the project on the mobile app. If you are using AutoCAD Electrical 2013 or 2014, you can either click the Mobile Data button in the Add-in tab or use the command AEMOBILEDATA to generate this folder manually. Once you have the folder, upload it alongside your project to Autodesk 360 or other web cloud storage to access it on the AutoCAD Electrical mobile app.
On the mobile app, the surfing experience is similar to the desktop version. After opening an AutoCAD Electrical project drawing, activate the surf panel and select a component to view its related references and components. You can then tap on your desired item to surf to that destination.
Additionally, AutoCAD Electrical offers a powerful command called Surfer (AESURF), which allows you to surf to related references of a selected item. This command can be accessed from the Quick Access Toolbar or the project tab on the ribbon. With the Surfer command, you can navigate your entire project, providing a more comprehensive navigation experience compared to simply surfing between components.
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Frequently asked questions
AutoCAD Electrical is used for creating electrical schematics for panel design.
First, decide if it is a schematic or panel component. Then, select 'ok' and the block editor will open with the symbol builder attribute editor. You will then select where the wired connection is coming from. Insert it with your grid or object snap on.
A 'family' refers to the ability to tie together various symbols that represent one component. For example, a relay with a coil and associated contacts shown on multiple pages of your schematic package.
From the Schematic Tab, go to the Symbol Builder command. After selecting objects and an insertion point, choose a 'PARENT' category and select 'ok'. Then select a path pointing to your custom library/folder for the block and image file.
Terminal Blocks in AutoCAD Electrical are straightforward and their usage is quite common.
