EoW January 2008

english technology news

Modern software tools help accelerate wire harness development

Today, many companies create their electrical systems and wire harness designs using general purpose drawing tools. At first sight this seems sensible – such tools are usually flexible, inexpensive, easy-to-use, and can be used to create all the drawing sets typically associated with electrical design: wiring schematics, harness drawings, service diagrams and the like. But general purpose tools are a false economy in electrical design, as they have no in-built intelligence of the real-world product – its electrical behaviour, manufacturing constraints, or costs.

John Wilson, of Mentor Graphics ▲

The resultant design drawings are just that: two dimensional pictures containing lines, arcs and text but with no notion that these visual entities actually represent electrical objects (such as wires and connectors) that have specific electrical behaviours. As a simple example, if the engineer moves a component in an electrical diagram, any connecting wires must each be moved or redrawn as well. And since no electrical information is incorporated into the drawing, parts lists and other reports must be created manually as a separate process. By contrast, dedicated electrical tools allow the engineer to create designs using ‘intelligent’ representations of electrical objects, selected from an integrated components library. This provides multiple benefits. Drawing creation is faster – when the engineer moves the component the wires automatically move with it, remaining connected. Correct component selection and compatibility can be guaranteed – because parts are selected from a library that contains detailed descriptions of compatibility and costs. Electrical integrity can be validated because the electrical symbols on the drawing have in-built models that can check voltages, currents, fuse and wire ratings. Costed bills of material, and other reports, can be generated automatically. In other words the software helps the engineer create lower cost, right-first- time designs, with less effort, because it supports the engineer in his or her design creation task by understanding the intent behind the task. Mentor Graphics Corporation – USA Fax : +1 503 685 1204 Email : info@mentor.com Website : www.mentor.com

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EuroWire – January 2008