AUTOCAD ELECTRICAL USER’S MANUAL
Jim Kleinert 04/12/2010
TABLE of CONTENTS OVERVIEW........................................................................................................................4 General Function.............................................................................................................4 THE USER INTERFACE....................................................................................................5 Primary controls...............................................................................................................5 The Ribbon......................................................................................................................7 Toolbars...........................................................................................................................8 AutoCAD Toolbars......................................................................................................8 AutoCAD Electrical-specific toolbars.........................................................................8 PROJECTS........................................................................................................................10 The Project Manager......................................................................................................10 Open a Project............................................................................................................11 Switching Projects.....................................................................................................14 Closing a Project........................................................................................................15 Creating a New Project..................................................................................................16 New Project...............................................................................................................16 Copy Project..............................................................................................................20 Complete the Project Setup...........................................................................................27 Set Up the Project Descriptions.................................................................................27 Drawing Descriptions................................................................................................30 Managing Drawings in a Project...................................................................................35 Add New Drawings...................................................................................................35 Add Drawings to a Project.........................................................................................40 A Warning:.................................................................................................................42 Remove Drawings.....................................................................................................44 SCHEMATIC DRAWING.................................................................................................48 Wires..............................................................................................................................48 Angled Wires.............................................................................................................49 Components...................................................................................................................50 Menus........................................................................................................................50 Inserting Components................................................................................................51 Specifying a Component............................................................................................52 Other Components.....................................................................................................55 Editing Components......................................................................................................55 Parent/Child Components..............................................................................................59 Create the Child component......................................................................................59 CABINET LAYOUT DRAWINGS...................................................................................64 Mounting Plate...............................................................................................................64 DIN Rails and Panduit...................................................................................................69 Layout Detail sheets......................................................................................................72
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Insert Foot Print components.....................................................................................74 Insert Accessories......................................................................................................78 Terminal Strips...............................................................................................................79 Terminal Accessories.................................................................................................80 Insert Terminal Strip..................................................................................................82 The Overview Drawing.................................................................................................84 PROJECT REPORTS........................................................................................................86 Bill of Materials.............................................................................................................86 Assign Item Numbers................................................................................................86
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OVERVIEW General Function AutoCAD Electrical is a schematic-driven system for creating electrical system drawings. The system operates in two parts. The first is the schematic drawing function. This system applies customized AutoCAD drawing tools to generate electrical system drawings. As a part of these specialized tools a collection of electrical schematic symbols has been developed to conform to the complete catalog of components applied in current Siemens DCS systems. Other tools are in place to draw wires and cables for interconnecting these components, labeling components and wires, and generating reports such a bills of material, wire and cable lists and component tag lists. The second part is the cabinet layout drawing function. This system utilizes a parallel collection of symbols (referred to as “footprints.”) that provides dimensionally-correct mechanical representations of all cabinet components. With these elements all of the mechanical components of a control cabinet can be drawn. The user applies the tools to first generate the schematic diagrams of the control cabinet then uses the data contained in the completed schematics to develop the cabinet layout details and overview drawings. AutoCAD Electrical is a very powerful and flexible software tool for developing control system drawings. Like any powerful software, the system is complex and requires that all of the sub-systems and tools be used in correct manner and sequence in order to obtain the desired results. The purpose of this manual is to explain and describe these processes so that the user can accomplish the ultimate task of designing and drafting a complete drawing package for each cabinet
THE USER INTERFACE The User Interface is the “Window” that appears on-screen when AutoCAD Electrical is running and active. The User Interface is completely customizable, and can be set up to the individual user’s liking. A basic user interface is installed and configured when the program is first installed following the installation procedure provided by the Hardware Engineering department.
This is an example of a user-specific AutoCAD Electrical Operator Interface window. There are several elements on this window that are (or should be) common to all Siemens users.
Primary controls The “Big Red “A”” (formally called the “menu browser”) is always present in the upper-left corner of the window. This is more than an Autodesk logo. Notice the pull-down arrow in the lower right corner of the box?
When you click on that pull-down, the menu that appears allows access to all of the program’s functions:
This alone is a very powerful function. The operator can access all of the program functions and commands from here. All of the standard AutoCAD on-screen menu elements are here, along with all of the AutoCAD Electrical-specific menus as well. If you wanted to, you could turn off all of the other on-screen menus and toolbars and operate the system from here. This would be slow, and clumsy, and the operator would quickly tire of it, so it is not recommended. Remember, though, if all else fails, you can find the command you are looking for here.
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Right next to the menu browser is the Quick Access Toolbar. This is a short group of commands (that the user can change) containing the most commonly used general commands. The Menu Bar is the next item on the user interface.
The Menu Bar has been a part of AutoCAD since it became a MS Windows Compliant program in Version 10, (1988) though there has been pull-down menus organized across the top of the screen since the original Release 1 in 1982. (It is noteworthy that the 2009 release that we use is effectively Release 23.) Like the Menu Browser, access to all AutoCAD Electrical commands is available here. The Menu Bar can be turned off if desired, but it is not recommended to do so.
The Ribbon The Ribbon is new to AutoCAD with the 2010 release. This follows the concept developed by Microsoft for the “Office” family of programs, and provides a very powerful and flexible operator interface toolset.
There are 6 Tabs on the ribbon, each tab displays a different set of panels. Each panel represents a group of tasks or commands related to the panel name. When your mouse pointer touches one of the panels, it opens to display the associated commands.
Note that these commands, tabs and panel groupings agree with those of the menu bar. This is the standard configuration of the ribbon. If the ribbon is turned on (recommended) the Menu Bar can be turned off, and access to most of the AutoCAD command set is still available. There are several options for ribbon set-up, and the user can select the setup that is best for individual desires. The ribbon is fully customizable. The user can create new tabs and panels as needed. This can make a very powerful and small (in terms of screen size) operator interface. Page 7 of 96
Toolbars A large collection of AutoCAD and AutoCAD Electrical tool bars is available, and these can be turned on or off, and added at the will of the operator. Shown here is a collection that is considered “standard” and is recommended for all AutoCAD Electrical users.
Specifically, these are:
AutoCAD Toolbars
The “Standard” toolbar: this contains commands for file manipulation, printing, cut/paste, undo/redo, zoom/pan, and others that are among the most used. The “top-10” of the entire menu system is on this toolbar.
The “Layer” toolbar: this toolbar contains all of the tools for selecting, changing, and/or editing layers and layer characteristics. Layer management is a critical part of effectively using AutoCAD Electrical.
The “Properties” toolbar: these tools allow you to assign object layers, line type, line width, and (disabled in this view) plot style, by simply selecting the desired configuration from pull-down lists. This is very handy, and much faster than the Properties command function.
AutoCAD Electrical-specific toolbars
The “ACE: Main Electrical” toolbar: this toolbar caries all of the commands to selecting, inserting, locating and editing Electrical components in your drawings.
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The “ACE: Electrical 2” toolbar: This toolbar has the commands and functions for wire numbering and cross-referencing, component cross-referencing, symbol creation, and menu and drawing manipulation, as well as project reporting and project management.
The “Panel Layout” toolbar: This holds all of the commands needed to select, place, and edit panel layout “footprint” components, attach ID numbers and report panel-specific functions like Bills of Materials. These three toolbars are essential to AutoCAD Electrical. You cannot work effectively in AutoCAD Electrical without at least these three toolbars. It is never recommended to remove these toolbars from your workspace. All of the elements of the User Interface are fully customizable. Even the on-screen location and orientation of each of these elements can be adjusted (except the Menu Browser and Quick-access toolbar). If you wish to customize any of the toolbars, ribbon elements please contact a member of the development team. Some specialized knowledge is needed for some of these changes. The team will be happy to help you customize your workspace.
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PROJECTS AutoCAD Electrical is a Project-based system. For each cabinet design it is necessary to create a project. The Project manager is the tool used to track individual projects and the drawings that make them up.
The Project Manager Start the Project Manager by clicking the Project Manager Icon; The Project Manager will open.
The Project Manager window displays all of your opened projects, and the drawings in them. Remember each project represents a cabinet in your control system. This is a case where we must become accustomed to managing two definitions. The general use of “project” refers to an overall system of controls for one or several units, Balance-of-plant, Boiler/HRSG and so forth. AutoCAD Electrical considers a project to be a collection of drawings that describe a single control cabinet.
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Open a Project If the project you want to work on exists but is not listed in the Project Manager window, the project must be opened. To open a project, click on the pull-down arrow in the Project Selection box.
The Project Selection Window opens; select and click “Open Project.”
The Project Selection Window opens. This is a Windows Explorer window. Use the procedures you always use to “drill down” to the folder containing your project.
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Within your project folder you will find a “.WDP” file. This is the Project Definition file. Click to highlight the “.wdp” file name, then click “Open.”
When the selection window closes, re-open the project manager. The selected project will be at the top of the Project Manger list, and will be set as the “Active Project.”
The Active project is indicated by the BOLD text in the Project Manager window. Double-click any expanded drawing list to collapse it. Double-click any collapsed drawing list to expand it.
It should be noted that any project functions in AutoCAD Electrical will be performed on the ACTIVE project only. This extends to project functions performed in the Project Manager window, and functions performed on a project at the schematic or panel level.
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The expanded drawing list shows all of the drawings in the project. Single-click a drawing. Note that the file name is highlighted.
The Preview window shows a thumbnail image of the selected drawing. This allows you to quickly locate the drawing you wish to open.
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Double-clicking a drawing file will open the file. You may also right-click on a file name and select “OPEN.”
The opened drawing becomes the ACTIVE drawing. This is indicated by BOLD text in the window. Note that multiple drawings can be open simultaneously. In this case, the drawing which is currently displayed becomes the highlighted ACTIVE drawing.
Switching Projects As your work progresses there will be several projects available within the Project Manager window. To make another project active, right-click on the project you wish to work in.
Select “Activate” on the pop-up menu, and click.
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The newly-activated project is moved to the top of the list, and shows BOLD text. This is now the ACTIVE project. Notice that the previous project drawing list is still expanded, and the current active project drawing list is not. Expand and contract the project lists as you need.
Closing a Project Projects that you are not working on or are complete or are “just in the way” can and should be removed from the Project Manager Window. This is referred to as “Closing” a project. Right-click on the name of the project you wish to close. Select “Close” on the pop-up menu, and click. The project will be removed from the Project Manager. Note that closing a project only removes it from the project manager. All of the drawing files and AutoCAD Electrical related files remain stored where they were originally saved. (Typically on the “L:” drive.)
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Creating a New Project There are two methods for creating a new project. These are the “New Project” process and the “Copy Project” process. The choice between these methods depends on what your final result is intended to be.
New Project The “New Project” method creates a new project with the minimum necessary components and settings. The project thus generated will consist of a project description with all of the required project configuration settings, and no subject drawings. New drawings created in or added to this project will automatically be set to the general Siemens project and drawing default settings. Begin by selecting the “New Project” icon. This is available in the Project Manager window.
Click this icon and the “Create New Project” window opens.
Enter the name of your project in the first (“Name:”) box. Your project name should provide the name of the project and the name of the cabinet as well as the revision number. A name such as “LOGAN CPA01 R1” is recommended.
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Since project folders are created on the “L:” drive when the project comes in-house, uncheck the “Create Folder with Project Name” check box (click on the box). If you don’t do this, you will end up with a folder-in-a-folder condition. Next, click the “Browse…” button at the end of the “Location…” box.
This will open the “Browse for Folder” window.
Use this window to drill down to the “L:” drive folder for your specific project.
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If a folder does not already exist for your project, use the “Make New Folder” button to name and create the folder.
Use a name for the folder that is as descriptive as the project name that you chose.
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Once the project folder is named, Click “OK.”
Make sure that the “Create Folder with Project Name” box is unchecked. Double-check that the folder name and path displayed below the checkbox is what you expect. If not, Click “Cancel” and try again. If the path and folder name are correct, click “OK” Go back to the Project Manager, and note that a new project has been entered, and that the new project is now the active project.
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Note that there are no drawings in this project. All of the drawings will need to be created or copied in from other projects. (More on that later.)
Copy Project The “New Project” method creates a new project with the necessary components and settings. The project generated will consist of a project description with all of the required project configuration settings, and any drawings brought from the copied project. Any new drawings created in or added to this project will automatically be set to the project and drawing default settings of the original project, or from the Siemens System default settings depending on the selections made during the Copy Project process. Begin by selecting the “Copy Project” icon. This is available in the pull-down menu for “Projects.”
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When you click “Copy Project” this window will appear.
There are now options for the user. If the Active project is the project to be copied, click on the “Copy Active Project” button. This selection is usually used to generate a drawing set for a similar cabinet from the current project. In most cases, you will want to copy an existing “Standard” cabinet with similar function to the new design. For example, a new CRY cabinet should be generated from the standard. In this case click the “Browse” button. Use normal Windows processes to “drill down” to the project you wish to copy.
Click the project folder to open it.
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Select the Project Description file (.wdp) to highlight it, and then click the “Open” button.
This brings us back to the “Select Existing Project to Copy” window, now with the copied project name filled in.
Click OK, and use the “Copy Project: Step 2” window to drill down to the location (folder) of your new project.
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Use normal Windows processes to “drill down” to the folder you wish to save your new project in
Then enter the name of your new project, then click Save.
The project .wdp file is created in the selected folder, and a window opens allowing you to select the files you want to include in the new project. (All of the files in the copied project are available.) To copy all of the files click “Do All.”
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Highlight the drawings to be copied, and click “Process” to move them to the bottom (Selection) window, or click “Do All” to move them all, then click “OK”
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This window allows you to double-check that you have selected the correct target folder for your new project. If there is an error in the path selection, you can change it by typing directly or browsing to the correct folder. When everything is correct, click “OK.” The next window allows you to use the “Find and Replace” process to re-name the drawings being copied to names appropriate to your project. In this case we only need to change the project number.
Click “Find/Replace.”
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Enter the text string to “find” and the (new) string to “Replace” it with, and then click OK.
Note that the file names have been changed. If you need to make other changes, Click “Find/Replace” again. Alternatively, you can select a single line, and click “Edit” to make specific changes to a single string. If or when everything is correct, click “OK.”
All of the selected and re-named drawings are copied into the new project folder and added to the new project in the Project Manager.
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Complete the Project Setup. Now you have established a project, and even gotten the drawing file names adjusted to represent your new project. The content of those drawings is not correct. At the least, they still contain whatever Title Block information came along with them from the original project. It is necessary to establish the correct content for the title blocks, and get that information attached to the title blocks.
Set Up the Project Descriptions. The Project Descriptions are the Project-Level information that will apply to every drawing in the project. There is also a data set for the Page-Level that will be discussed later.
Right-Click on the Project Title (only works on the active project), then select “Descriptions” from the pop-up menu. Click on “Descriptions.”
The “Project Descriptions” window will open.
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All of the description data is applied to every drawing. Primarily, this is the data that is applied to the Title Block of each drawing. Notice the three checked “in reports” boxes on the right-hand side of the window. The items checked will be reproduced in the header lines of any reports that you generate from AutoCAD Electrical. The three items checked here should always be checked. This data header on printed AutoCAD Electrical reports might be very helpful in keeping track of your work. Generally, fill in the project data you have recieved from the Project Manager for Project Number, Customer, and Plant Name. Title (line 1) and Title (line 2) are the first two lines of the drawing title in the title block. These will be the same for the entire drawing set, and will represent the project function and cabinet name similar to the example above. Fill in the Project Manager’s name, and the Engineer’s name similar to the example. The Initials of the Drafter (or the engineer, if the same) and the date the project was started. Click the “>” box to go to the next page.
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This page (and the next) holds the Revision history data for the title block. Recall that typically we use Rev 0 (for review) at the start of the project. Fill in the Revision data as needed for your project. This data will be applied to every sheet in the drawing set when you use the “Title Block Update” tool. (Described later.) Click the “>” box again.
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This page holds the last lines of revision data, and the last 3 pieces of Title Block data. “Scale” is usually “NTS” (Not To Scale) though it can be left blank, or if the drawings will be plotted to a known scale that can be entered here. “Approved” and “Date Approved” are commonly left blank. These entries appear on the Title Block and must be accommodated, and their use may be required as the drafting system evolves. When all of the data is entered click the “OK” button. The information will be retained as a part of the project description, and will be applied to the project drawings when the “Title Block Update” tool is used.
Drawing Descriptions The Description elements above cover the project as a whole. These items appear the same on every drawing in the project. There are some page-specific points as well. These are inherently different on every page in the project.
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Right-Click on a project drawing, and select “Drawing Properties” from the “Properties” fly-out.
This will open the “Drawing Properties” window.
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These are the Drawing-specific elements. Description 1 and Description 2 are part of the Project-specific data that we established above, so there is no entry made here. Description 3 is the third line of the drawing description box. The information here describes the function of the specific page. Enter the Project Number in the Project Code box.
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The “Installation Code” box gets the Unit number, KKS Function Code, and Cabinet number from the drawing name. This is usually the cabinet name and is preceded by “=.”. The “Location Code” box gets the Equipment Code and Equipment Number from the drawing name. This is usually preceded by “.”. Once entered and saved to a drawing, these codes can be retrieved from the “Project” lists by clicking the appropriate “Project” button. This saves a good bit of time, and reduces the chance of typing errors.
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These values are used by the IEC designator function(s) of AutoCAD Electrical to complete tag names by the IEC standard, and to use in cross-referencing between sheets and even between projects. In the “Sheet Values” area, enter a 2-digit number for the sheet (we used to designate sheet numbers with three digits IE: “/001”). This must be a 2-digit number, so use a leading zero for single-digit sheet numbers. Enter the Drawing Type in the “Drawing” area. If you need help with these terms refer to the “Site Preparation Manual” (rev 3) “Drawing Numbers, Types and Codes” (Chapter 4).
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Managing Drawings in a Project In nearly every project it will be necessary to add drawings in order to make the project complete. There are several ways to do this, but first the relationship between drawing files and folders and the Project Manager must be understood. Siemens’ drawing system organizes the drawings for a single cabinet into a single folder. If you create a new drawing and save it in one of those project folders, it is considered to be a part of that cabinet, and thus part of the project. AutoCAD Electrical does not work quite that way. The AutoCAD Electrical Project Manager considers the content of a project to be all of the drawings that are listed under the project without regard for where that drawing is stored. An AutoCAD Electrical project can consist of drawings stored in many different folders. This is exactly opposite to the Siemens drawing and documentation system. When adding drawings to a project, it is VERY important that you keep this in mind. The consequences can be significant, and may even result in destroying other projects.
Add New Drawings The first way to add a drawing to your project is to create a new (blank) drawing. Using this method will generate a completely configured drawing (with the title block filled in) with no content. Click the “New Drawing” icon in the Project Manager
The “Create New Drawing” window will open.
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Enter your drawing File Name. Refer to the Site Preparation Manual (CH 4) for a complete explanation of the file name its structure.
There are 2 (two) title blocks to choose from, depending on the purpose of the drawing. Click the Template: “Browse” button to make the selection.
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Select “SIETABLOCK_MS.dwt to create a drawing with an active Model Space (and a viewport to the model space on its paper space). This is typically used for mechanical, Overview and Layout drawings. Select “SIETABLOCK_PS.dwt to create a drawing with only active Paper Space. This is typically used for Schematic Drawings, charts and tables. Select the Drawing Template (.dwt) that you want to use, and then click “Open.”
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Lines 1 and 2 of the sheet description are filled in by the “descriptions” process described above. Fill in the 3rd line with the specific function represented by this sheet Siemens uses IEC component designators. Fill in the Project code, Installation code, and the sheet-level location code. This is NOT the location of a component in the cabinet, but the cabinet-level Equipment Code (a.k.a. the cabinet name). (Refer to the Site Preparation Manual, Ch 4 for details) Put the Page number (always 2 digits) in as the Sheet number, and the drawing Type Code as the Drawing type. When these values are in place click OK.
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The drawing is created, the title block is filled in, and the drawing is added to the Project Manager at the bottom of the list.
The drawing just created is open as the active drawing in the project. The drawing is saved to the folder where the active project file is saved. Page 39 of 96
Add Drawings to a Project Another way to add drawings to a project is to use the “Add Drawings” tool. Right-click on the project name, and click “New Drawing… on the pop-up menu.
By default, Add Drawings looks to the project folder to find the drawings to be added.
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If the drawings you intend to add to your project are not already stored there, you will have to browse to them through the “Look in:” box of the window. When the drawing or drawings you want to add are selected. Click the “Add” button.
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In the illustration above a drawing from another project is going to be added the active project.
The drawing appears on the project list and can be opened, edited, published and so forth like any other drawing in the project.
…But, the drawing “Added” from another folder does not appear in the project folder.
A Warning: Notice that drawing “Detail-E.dwg” does not appear in the project folder.
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This is because the Project Manager is able to track drawing files including their search paths, and include any drawing in any project. There would be no problem with having the new drawing stored in another folder IF you never edited the drawing, updated its title block, or made any other change. If you make a change to this added drawing the change will be reflected in the folder where the drawing file resides. If that folder is part of another project, then you will have overwritten a file from another project with your changes. That effectively destroys that project. If another operator added one of your drawings, and updated it to fit his project, your project would have the over-written data, and when you published that project, the drawing would be published with the wrong project’s data on it. In other words your project is damaged. The best way to avoid this problem is to use Windows Explorer to copy and paste drawings from other projects into your project folder, and add those drawings from your own project folder to the Project Manager. Another way to “fix” this problem is to open the drawing you just added, then click FILE, SAVE AS… then use the “Save Drawing As” window to drill down to your project folder and save the drawing there.
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The problem with this practice is that you MUST do it for EVERY drawing you ADD to your project. It is recommended that you make a habit of copying files using windows explorer then add them to your project. There are other ways to move drawings and apply them to your project, but this is the fastest and “safest” and is the recommended method. Remember the Project Manager drawing list is NOT a copy of the Windows Explorer file list from your project folder. The Project Manager keeps track of the drawings you “tell” it are to be part of your project. The Siemens documentation system expects all of the drawings related to a cabinet to be saved in a single folder. The operator is responsible to ensure that the system is followed correctly.
Remove Drawings From time to time it is necessary to remove a drawing or drawings from a project. This is easily done. Let us assume that it is necessary to remove the drawing “Detail_E.dwg” from our project.
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Simply right-click on the drawing, select “Remove” on the Pop-up menu, and Click.
The drawing is removed from the project, and is no longer in the project list or included in any project-level activities.
It is important to remember, though, that Project Manager does not operate at the level of your project or cabinet folder. This means that the drawing you REMOVED is NOT DELETED from the folder, but is simply removed from AutoCAD Electrical’s “line-ofsight.”
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All by itself this is not an issue, since we operate AutoCAD Electrical from the Project Manager. This does lead to some clutter in the project folder but that is not a serious problem. Now consider what could happen if at some time in the future you wanted to create a new drawing called “Detail-E.” Right from the beginning Windows won’t allow two drawings of the same name in the same folder, so when AutoCAD attempts to create the new drawing, there’s going to be an error.
Not a problem really, all that is needed is to go to the project folder and remove the “old” drawing to make room for your new one. Then go through the whole “New Drawing” process again. That takes time, and distracts from the thought processes of the engineer, slowing the overall project down. Let us assume that the project is completed, published and gone. And the customer asks for a set of the drawing files for his records. Granted it is not usually done, but for this excellent customer we’ll do it. You burn a CD of your drawing files, and send them out. What does the customer get? Well he gets all of the drawings, and that’s OK, but he also gets anything you “Removed” from the project as well. That might be a significant number of drawings that look like they should be part of the project but are not. This will at least cause confusion, and makes Siemens look poorly organized if nothing else. How can this be avoided? Well you could make a habit of “removing” a drawing from your Project Manager, then immediately going to the project folder and Deleting the file, but that’s time consuming, and distracts from the engineering thought process, which in turn slows the project down. You could attempt to find and delete all of the excess files once the project is done, but there is the problem that all of the drawing file names look a lot alike, so it is very easy to accidently delete a “real” drawing file and/or leave a “junk” file behind. If you come back to publish that folder or copy that project, you’re going to have problems.
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A better plan exists. That is to rename the file with XXX ahead of the file name or overwrite the first part of the file name with “DELETE” so that there is some “flag” that the file is scrap. This takes very little time, and makes the junk files easy to spot in the Explorer window.
Simply right click the file to be removed, and click “Rename.”
The file is renamed. Now Remove it.
Now, when you see it in the Explorer window, you will know it is to be deleted.
It is clear that this file has to go…
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SCHEMATIC DRAWING Now that we have learned how to create a project, and how to manipulate drawings in that project, we move on to how to put content into those drawings. It is important to remember that AutoCAD Electrical is AutoCAD. What were drawn in our previous system as lines and various shapes are still just that; lines and shapes. The difference with AutoCAD Electrical is that those lines and shapes have “intelligence” attached to them in the form of block attributes. All of the symbols AutoCAD Electrical uses are blocks, with attributes attached that carry information that helps to describe and define them as electrical components. Wires and cables are drawn on specific layers that are defined as “Wire” layers and lines drawn on those layers are given characteristics of color, wire gauge, and/or cable type. In order to use these characteristics and descriptions, the symbols must be placed and defined using Electrical tools and wires must be drawn using the Electrical Wire tools. Lines drawn with “line” and blocks inserted with the “insert” command will not be properly interpreted as Electrical elements. This will result in difficulties later in the project, which will consume a great deal of time. The first rule of AutoCAD Electrical is; “Always use the Electrical Tools.”
Wires We will begin with the simplest electrical component a wire. To draw a wire, we use the Wire Tool.
The Wire Tool icon looks like a coil of wire (!). Note that we have also previously selected the “Gry_18_AWG” layer. This will draw a wire that will be recognized by AutoCAD Electrical as an 18 gauge gray wire. The user picks starting and ending points for the wire, and the Wire tool does the rest, even turning the wire so that start and end points that aren’t in line with each other can still be connected.
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There are a few tricks to working with the Wire tool. The tool can draw wires with angled connections, and routes wires around objects under certain conditions. Some of the subtleties are best learned by experience. The quantity of variations is too great to discuss here.
Angled Wires You may use the angled wires tool to draw wires with angled connections using the Angled Wires tools.
Angled Wires tools
If you select Angled Wires, all connections are made at an angle. The available angles are 22.5, 45, and 67.5 degrees. The tools will make all wire turns angled as well.
Several other functions dealing with wires and wire identifications are located on the Wire Drawing menu. These will be dealt with elsewhere.
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Components Now we begin looking at inserting schematic components. These are the schematic symbols for electrical and electronic devices. AutoCAD Electrical has been equipped with a library of symbols representing all of the devices and components that are regularly used at Siemens. If you have need of a component symbol or an entry added to the library for a component that is not already there, please contact a member of the AutoCAD Electrical Support Team to make the entries. Only Support Team members have write-permission to the library files.
Menus To access the Component Menus click the Insert Component Icon.
This will open the Component Main Menu. The most-used menu is the “by Manufacturer” where the majority of components that are commonly used at Siemens are listed by their manufacturer.
Inserting Components Now we move on to inserting these components into our drawings. We will demonstrate the process by inserting a terminal. We commonly use many different terminals, but typically only one symbol, a simple circle. The selections in the “Terminals” menu allow the assignment of a terminal number to each symbol. Click the symbol, and place the symbol on the drawing. If the placement is within a preset distance of a wire, the symbol will be automatically inserted into the line. The line will be broken so that the symbol appears “in” the wire line rather than “on” the line.
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This is an example of a terminal inserted “in” the line and one “on” the line.
The operator should use care to make sure all components insert correctly and break the wires properly. If the wire doesn’t connect to the symbol correctly, the connection will not be recognized for wire and cable tables, or circuit tracing. This rule applies to all component insertions, and wire connections in general. Once the component is placed, the “Insert/edit Terminal Symbol” window will pop up. Here you enter all of the information that you know about the terminal. As a minimum the terminal strip name (“Tag Strip”) and terminal number should be entered. If you know the type of terminal you are representing this is the time to use the Catalog Lookup function, and make that selection as well.
Specifying a Component
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When you click “Catalog Lookup…” the following window opens.
We’ll select a Phoenix Contact terminal; use the pull-down arrow to open the “Manufacturer” selection menu, and click on “Phoenix Contact.
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The selection process requires a bit of experience before it becomes customary. If you know the current-capacity rating of the terminal you want to use, you can pull down the “Rating” menu and select it, and likewise if you now the device “Type” that Phoenix applied to the terminal you want, you can shorten the list by pulling down and selecting that as well. The easiest way to get quickly to your device is to click the “All” checkboxes in both the Type and Rating areas. This will generate a list of ALL of the Phoenix Contact terminals in the Catalog. Clicking the “Show list sorted by catalog part number” checkbox will put the list in numerical order. It is a simple matter to find your device by part number now.
Click the catalog number to highlight the line, the click “OK.” Returning to the “Insert/edit Terminal Symbol” window we see that the Manufacturer and Catalog Number are now filled in.
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With the Location, Tagstrip and Terminal number filled in, the results are clear.
The terminal type and configuration (single stack, max 2 wires per point) are also established, because this information is part of the component lookup table, when you select a component the critical specifications, ratings and so forth are “attached” to the component symbol so that AutoCAD Electrical can use this data in all of its reports and internal processes. This information is used in the terminal layout process. This will be discussed in detail later.
Other Components Other components are inserted following the same basic practices. The “Insert/Edit Terminal” window is replaced with Insert/Edit boxes containing different details, but you will use the same methods to operate all of them.
Editing Components It is nearly impossible for the engineer to know EVERYTHNIG about a project right from the start. Also we are all human, and we know that “to err is human.” There are going to be errors, oversights, blanks to be filled in, and so on, and AutoCAD Electrical has a significant suite of tools to allow us to go back and edit or change components or the information attached to them.
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Here, a Phoenix 6-Amp circuit breaker (5531969) has been inserted into a drawing. We desire to correct this value to be the 10-Amp version. To begin the editing process, click the “Edit Component” tool.
Click on the component to be edited. This will open the “Insert/Edit Component” window.
To change to the 10A breaker, DO NOT edit the “Ratings” box; this will simply apply a new rating value to the existing component. That will look OK on the schematic drawing, but when this component is applied to the panel layout process, it will appear as a 6A breaker, since that is the value assigned to the Part Number. Also, the Part number for the 6A device will be applied to the Bill of Materials since the part number drives the data lookup for the Bill of Materials. The correct procedure is to click the “Lookup” button, and select the correct part from the catalog list.
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The straight-forward method is to select the “10A” rating from the “RATING” pulldown. This will cause the 10A breakers from Phoenix Contact to appear in the selection window.
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Select the correct device from the list, and click “OK.” The “Insert/Edit Component” window will pop up again. Notice that the Catalog number and other details here have changed to represent the 10A circuit breaker. Click “OK” and the data on the drawing is changed to represent the new selection. The “Edit Component” process changes all of the elements of the component to represent the specific device selected.
Parent/Child Components The term “Parent/Child” refers to a component with more than one element which is displayed in more than one part. An example of this would be a Circuit Breaker (the Parent) and an Auxiliary contact of that
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breaker, used for reporting the Closed/Opened status of the breaker to a PLC or DCS. Since Power circuits and data/monitoring circuits are necessarily displayed separately, and often on a different page, the Auxiliary contact must be a physically separate component that is “Related” by name, at least, to the Circuit breaker. The Auxiliary contact is the “Child” of the “Parent” Circuit breaker.
Create the Child component Activate the page where the child will be placed. Insert the appropriate terminals and wires.
Zoom in to a reasonable view of the area you are working in.
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Select the Auxiliary contact (in this case) from the Insert Component menu.
…And place the contact on the appropriate Wire Line:
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Now we must establish the Parent-Child “connection.” This is easily done on the “Insert/Edit Child Component” widow that opens when the schematic symbol is placed.
Click the “Project” button under “Component Tag.”
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Simply select the component that is this child’s “Parent” and the click “OK.” All of the Parent’s information is transferred to the Child, and the cross-reference data is established (defining where in the drawing set the parent is).
Click OK here, and the information is placed on the drawing.
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Note that the Parent symbol gets cross-reference information for its Child as well.
You do not have to assign the child immediately; child components can be drawn and cross-referenced later or even before the parent, and parent/child relationships can be changed using the edit component functions later in the project, just as we established the relationship above.
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Relay contacts are Children to the Parent relay coil in the same way that an Aux contact is a child to a parent circuit breaker. These relationships are established and managed using exactly the same tools (just different symbols) as are demonstrated above.
CABINET LAYOUT DRAWINGS AutoCAD Electrical has the capability to drive cabinet layout drawings based on the content of the schematic drawings in the project. Properly used, the AutoCAD Electrical tools can identify and locate all of the components used in the schematic drawings, and ensure that they are included in the project (cabinet) layout drawings. With a complete layout, a complete Bill of Materials can be realized. These are the processes where most cabinet design errors occur. These errors (terminal strips that do not fit, components left off of layouts, items missing from BOM and so forth) are the largest contributors to DCNs and other non-conformance costs.
Mounting Plate Aside from cabinet and cabinet component selection (which will be covered later), the most significant element in the cabinet assembly is usually the mounting plate or plates. A significant selection of standard plates with pre-drilled holes and without pre-drilled holes is available in the system catalog. In addition, it is possible to quickly draw a custom-sized mounting plate and have it added to the library so that the system can work with it. All Mechanical drawings are done in Model Space, so that physical size and scale factors are not an issue in making the drawings. To build a layout drawing you must start by creating a new page using the Model Space template. This template is configured with a viewport to the model space that is used to “view” the model space drawing on a properly sized title block. Create a drawing for your Mounting Plate.
Browse to the Model Space Template, double-click to select it.
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Fill in the drawing details; The assembly drawing is usually sheet 2.
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Click OK. This will generate your new drawing. Switch to Model Space: click on the model space tab. The layout drawing will be drawn in real size in model space. For printing, the drawing is “projected” onto the paper space (Layout1) scaled to properly fit the printed page (more on that later).
Now we add the cabinet frame and mounting plate. Select the Insert Footprint tool.
Click the icon and the Insert Footprint menu opens On a new drawing this Alert will pop up first.
The “WD_PNLM “ block contains data that controls where the drawing data is found and stored. The drawing is not recognized as a “Footprint” drawing without this block. It is always safe to click ‘OK” to this request. If you selected the footprint menu by accident, you should cancel, just to avoid loading excess data to the drawing.
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The “Insert Footprint” menu opens;
The Library of mounting plates is found under “By Manufacturer”
“Worldwide”
and “Device Panels” (Worldwide Manufacturing is the vendor of choice for all of our custom-fabricated mounting plates.) It is a simple matter to select the standard plate to start from;
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We will build from this basic panel.
You may assign a tag name to the panel, or leave this space blank. Click OK and the panel is inserted into your drawing.
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As our project progresses, we can include the cabinet frame and any other panels and views that we need on this drawing. Right now, we want to build the detail page or pages that house our components.
DIN Rails and Panduit For the details, we need to know exactly how much room we have to place Din Rail. Let’s put some basic runs of wire duct in place to define our space. Three pieces of 2 x 3 duct should get us started. We’ll use the Din Rail Too to do that.
The Din Rail Tool lets you select Din Rails and Panduit, and place those on your layout quickly.
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Pull down the Rail Type list and select the Panduit that you want. Here you are selecting only the width and height of the Panduit. After the duct is placed you can select the exact part number to be used. This will appear in you BOM along with the number of pieces used.
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It is important that you ALWAYS select the “Scale” setting of 25.4. This is because AutoCAD defaults to Inches, and all of the internal models are drawn in inches. Since we work in metric units (mm) we have to scale these items into mm scale. If you forget to do this, your Panduit will come in at 1/25 scale (it will be very small). You can correct this by deleting the Panduit, and re-generating it with the correct scale set. You should only have to set this value once in an AutoCAD session. The quickest way to insert Panduit is to use the “Pick Rail Information” button. This allows you to pick the starting and ending (centerline) points, then click “OK” and the Panduit is automatically generated.
If you did not get the centerline exactly right, it is not a problem, simply MOVE the Panduit object to where you want it to be. The system draws each of these as a block, so a single selection will capture the whole element.
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Repeat as needed to get the basic elements placed. You can do more, redraw with different sizes or whatever is needed by simple edits and more use of the tool at any time.
Use the “Dist” command to measure the distance between the two vertical panduits. (In this case, the measurement was 716mm.) Make a note of that measurement; you will use it in the next step.
Close this page and create a new page to carry the component details. We will copy these details back onto this overview page when we finalize the mounting plate layout.
Layout Detail sheets Use the New Drawing command to create the drawing. Use the Model Space template for this one too. Then fill in the drawing details.
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The first step in the detail layout process is to generate the Din Rail that the components will be attached to. Use the Din Rail tool to draw a horizontal DIN rail to the length you measured above (716mm).
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Insert Foot Print components Our project only has one component right now, but a “real” project might have hundreds. AutoCAD Electrical has tools to keep track of the components in the schematic section of the drawing set, and help you see exactly which of those have been used. If you have used AutoCAD electrical symbols for all of your schematic devices, and you have used all of the schematic devices in your layouts, then the layouts must accurately represent all of the electrical components in your drawing set. This means all of the components will be counted and will appear on your project bill of material. If you use AutoCAD Electrical correctly, it is impossible to leave an item out of your BOM, and it is impossible to miss-count those items. This means your BOM will be correct. Click the fly-out arrow on the Insert Footprint command icon.
Pick the “Insert Footprint (Schematic Components)” command from the Fly out.
To save time, select only the pages with schematic drawings on them.
Click “Process”, then OK. The system will generate a list of components from the schematic drawings. When the list window opens, click “Mark Existing” an “x” will appear in the “x” column when a component is placed in the layout. When all of the components are marked, you have placed all of the schematic components into your layout pages. Page 73 of 96
Select each component you want to insert. Then click the “Insert” button. You may select multiple components to insert a group of components with a single selection. If you select multiple components, a separate list window opens, and you can rearrange the items to insert in the order you would like to place them.
The component appears on screen, with the block attached to the cursor at its insertion point. All of the Din Rail components have been set up to insert on the centerline of the DIN rail.
The “Component Insert/Edit” window opens, giving you the opportunity to verify that you are inserting what you
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want. You can use Catalog Lookup to change the device selection if you wish. If everything is OK, just click OK. With that, the component is placed on the layout. You can continue adding Schematic components from the list, or you can add accessories if they are needed. To continue, click “Close” on the “Schematic Components (Active Project)” window, to close the window, and see your work.
Notice that the component is marked with its rating (as we established in the schematic drawing) and its tag name (again established in the schematic). Notice also, if we return to the “Insert Footprint (Schematic Components)” menu that the line with our component listed is now shown as being “used.”
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Insert Accessories Now let us add some accessories. We need at least two end blocks to support this component. The end block we use is the Siemens 8WA-1808 part. We can select this item directly from the Insert Footprint component menu. The end block was placed on the first-level menu because it is used so commonly.
Click this item, and it will appear on-screen, again attached to the cursor at its mid-line insertion point.
Move the end block into position next to the Breaker. Use the Copy Component function to create another end block on the other side of the breaker.
Note that the DIN rail is hidden behind the components. It is not necessary to break and erase the din rail lines beneath the components. (!!) This is due to a “Wipeout” object that is a part of every component. If your din rail shows through a component, use
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the “Draw Order” functions on the “Tools” pull-down menu to move the din rail behind the components.
Terminal Strips There are two sets of terminals in our little project. You may have noticed that those did not show up on the Schematic Components list. That is because AutoCAD Electrical handles terminals with a completely different tool called the Terminal Strip Editor. The function of the Terminal Strip Editor (TSE) is to handle the different terminal types and keep them grouped by terminal strip name (Tagstrip name). TSE is a program unto itself, and has many “ins and outs” that would require a separate manual to detail them (That manual may be forthcoming.) Here we will use the TSE to insert the two simple terminal strips we drew schematically earlier. This will demonstrate the basic functions of the TSE. Click on the Terminal Strip Editor tool.
This is a list of the terminal strips defined in our project.
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Select one of the terminal strips, and then click “Edit”
Select the “Catalog Code Assignment” tab, and observe that the correct part number is assigned. You can use the “Catalog” buttons (lower right) to copy/paste, delete, or assign catalog numbers in the TSE in case you forgot to assign a part number, or missed some assignments.
Terminal Accessories This terminal type needs an end barrier to protect the internal (and exposed) contacts. Terminal strip accessories like the end barrier, spacers, and the like are added to terminal strips with the TSE. You should not insert these components as Din Rail accessories. To insert the end barrier, click the “Insert Accessory” button (bottom center) on the TSE window.
Enter an ID number on the Insert Accessory pop-up. An ID number is a requirement. This ID can be any text or numeric string, but it should be unique to the component.
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Click the Catalog Lookup button, and select the device you need from the catalog. Here we will use Phoenix 3003020.
Make the selection from the catalog in the same way that schematic components are selected. Highlight the desired part, and click OK.
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We want the barrier to be applied to the “bottom” end of the terminal strip. With the last line of the list highlighted, click “Insert Below.”
Insert Terminal Strip The barrier is added to the list, and we are ready to insert this terminal strip into our layout drawing.
Click on the “Layout Preview” tab. This will generate a preview image of the terminal strip you are inserting.
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Click the “Insert” button, and the assembled terminal strip is placed on the active drawing. Just as with Din Rail accessories and components, the terminal strip insertion point is attached to the cursor. Simply drag the strip to the midline of the DIN rail, and click to place the strip. You can use the “Move” command to fine-tune the terminal strip’s position on the rail.
Repeat this process for the remaining terminal strip, and add (or CopyComponent) two more end blocks, and the rail assembly is complete.
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The Overview Drawing After all of the details are complete, the overview page (Usually sheet 2 of the package) must be completed. To do this, we copy the detail assemblies one-at-a-time to the overview page, and place them on the overview in the position we wish them to be assembled. Remember, we are creating accurately detailed and properly scaled details, so we will see exactly how the assembled cabinet should look when we look at the assembly drawing. For Bill of Material Purposes, we have to do something to keep the AutoCAD Electrical system from counting the contents of our details twice. We could just ignore the layout page, but then we wouldn’t be counting the Mounting plates or Panduit, or cabinet frame, or any of the other items that appear on the overview drawing. The easy way to handle this is to use “copy with base point” to copy the detail components to the Overview Page.
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Use the Hide Attributes command to “turn off” the component tags (they’ll be unreadable mush at the scale we’re printing anyway).
Now that everything is cleaned up, simply BLOCK the din rail and contents (use a name you will remember for the block) and move the block to the appropriate position on the overview drawing.
Add the appropriate wire duct, and then you are ready to place the next detail.
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PROJECT REPORTS A number of different reports may be part of your project. Among these are the Bill of Materials, Drawing Index lists, and Wire and Cable lists. These are developed at different points in the engineering process, but all of them are a part of the AutoCAD Electrical effort.
Bill of Materials For each cabinet, a Bill of Materials (BOM) is a requirement. The BOM is a list of all of the components used in the project, indexed to pointers placed on the drawings. To create a BOM we must first index the components and attach Item Numbers so that the reference can be complete.
Assign Item Numbers Item number assignment is generally very straightforward. An AutoCAD Electrical task actually assigns the numbers to the components the first time (and any time prior to a BOM being published, either for RFO or for RFM. The Siemens ordering system relies on item numbers not changing once they are assigned. Some custom tools have been developed to make that possible. Once a BOM is published, the process of assigning and tracking BOM Item Numbers is a bit more complicated, but the tools keep it relatively simple. To make the initial Item Number assignment, make sure your project is active, and then rebuild the database to make sure that all of the correct information is included.
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Yes, this is the active project.
Start the Database Rebuild
At this stage, always do a Full Rebuild It may take a while (this will become the longest 2 minutes in your life, except waiting for the microwave oven to warm your lunch). Wait until the Command: line comes up in the command window.
Now that the database is squared away, we can make the initial Item Number assignments using the “Resequence Item Numbers” tool.
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Click the “Resequence Item Numbers” command
We want to do this project wide…
Click “OK” and
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Select and Process the drawings with layout components in them
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The system will open each selected drawing, locate the components and assign item numbers to them. When that process is done, we will go to each drawing and attach the item balloons to carry the numbers, making a visual reference to the BOM. You may work on the drawings at any time and in any order, since the Item numbers are already assigned. All we are doing now is placing the pointer flags. It is best to check on the configuration of the pointer balloons. To do this, click on the Panel Configuration icon.
The Panel Configuration window will open.
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Click the “Setup” button on the “Balloon” section. The typical settings are as shown here:
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You can change these settings to make drawings of different sizes yield readable balloons at printed size. These settings are typical for detail layout drawings. Click OK when the settings are right, and then click OK on the Panel setup window. We draw our layout drawings in model space, and balloons must be attached to the model space devices, so open one of the layout drawings, and switch to paper space. Click the “Insert Balloon” tool.
Follow the prompts, and click one of the objects on the drawing. This selects the component to receive the balloon. Pick a point on the object for the arrow then drag away (not too far, or the balloon will not look right) and click the point you want the balloon to attach to the leader.
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Simply repeat the process until all items (or at least the first occurrence of an item) on the page have Item Number Balloons attached.
Switch back to paper space and make sure that your balloons are readable at printed size. Repeat this process with all of the layout pages in your project. Be sure that an item number is assigned and called out for every component on your drawings. With the Item Numbers assigned and balloons in place, it is a simple matter to generate the BOM Report. The BOM report is generally saved to an Excel file when generated. This “Electronic Copy” will be transmitted to the BOM tracking and ordering tool Page 91 of 96
separately. The Electronic copy is “cleaned up” for organization and appearance then inserted onto a page (or pages) of the drawing set, so that it is part of the project package. To generate the BOM click the “Panel Reports” button.
The “Panel Reports” window will open.
Select “Bill of Material” and check all of the other controls to make sure they are selected as shown here. Click the “Format” button.
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If necessary, browse to the “bompnl.set” file. (This can be copied to your local drive to save time). Click “OK” on this selection. This provides AutoCAD Electrical with the information needed to include the data we need for our BOM system. Click “OK” on the “Panel Reports” window.
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Select the drawings with Layouts on them and process. Click OK and the report is generated. (You may be asked permission to Q-save the open drawing; click “OK.) When the report is complete, the Report Generator window will pop up.
This is a list of all of the components in our project. Because some of our components have sub-components attached (for example a fuse in a fuse holder.), they will be listed as a single component. Our BOM system does not accept that structure so we need to modify the list to correct this apparent “error.” Click the “User Post” button.
Select the “Qty x Subqty-->Qty, blank out Subqty” function and click “OK.”
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The updated BOM report is presented. Now, Click on “Save to File.”
Select “Excel spreadsheet format (.xls)” and “Include project “LINEx” values” to create a properly formatted excel spreadsheet. Click “OK.”
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Save the file to a location and name that makes sense so that you can find the file later.
We won’t do anything more to this file right now so click “Close – No Script.” Close the “Report Generator” window. We need a page to insert the BOM onto. The BOM will be inserted as a table, so we need a page setup with the “standard” table settings in place. A specially formatted page is already in place.
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