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I travel across America and other parts of the world teaching AutoCAD Electrical. I can tell you that, in general, the standard is no standard. I wish that were not the case. In Europe they follow an established standard called IEC almost to the letter, no matter where you go. However in America, it is as if no standards exist. I have seen control relays tagged as CR, MCR, R, RC, and a unique tag for each relay, according to its function in that particular machine. I've been using AutoCAD Electrical since 1997. The JIC symbols in AutoCAD Electrical appeared to inherit the most common tagging schemes seen around the U.S., most of which do match published standards, the chief being JIC. The Joint Industrial Council (JIC) dissolved by the 1980s so the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) was asked to take over. The NFPA released NFPA-79 which incorporated the JIC standards with some updates. I think what you see with AutoCAD Electrical and its predecessor is an attempt to appeal to the everyday user. Thus you will see the most commonly accepted tagging formats, most of which do match the JIC standards. But in a few cases you may also see what I refer to as technical colloquialisms.
The term wire number is a form of colloquialism. It is actually an electrical node number, or even a potential number, to be downright technical about it. We have a colloquialism associated with ladders as well. Is it really a 1-phase ladder when you use L1 and L2? The term single-phase technically refers to a power source derived from a single "hot" phase and neutral,
The developers were tasked with creating an electrical design tool that allows us to design highly sophisticated machinery, yet the tool itself must be as intuitive as possible so the designer doesn't lose himself/herself in learning the tool. Thus it appears that the developers chose to incorporate common terminology and common practices into the software, not an absolute adherence to a certain standard. Again, back in the days when AutoCAD Electrical was created the established standard in the U.S. was more of an "every man for himself" standard.
Consider this: Where did we get the standard for using blue wire for D.C. control voltage? It is a “defacto” standard derived from the common practices at automobile manufacturers. Since automobile manufacturers were among the first to incorporate sophisticated control systems, their common practices became a “defacto” standard. Once in a while I run across someone who uses red for DC(+) and black for DC(-).
Don't assume that the major corporations are following standards to a proverbial “t”. One of the oldest and most recognizable electrical companies, known throughout the world, uses component tags on a "circuit-function" basis. Each time they insert a symbol they manually enter its tag, according to the component’s use within the machine. Thus no two relays will necessarily have the same tagging format. One may be RM12 while another is TM42, and another is KC14. The format has nothing to do with published electrical standards. They just have a system in place whereby the name of the relay tells them what control circuit function it serves.
In summation, I do not fault the developers of AutoCAD Electrical with regard to symbol libraries. They could have chosen to release a common design tool and let us create our own symbols. They gave us the symbol builder tool just for that purpose. But they were also kind enough to give us over 1500 symbols in various orientations as a sort of “starter set” that we could use and tweak as desired. With this starter set of symbols they had to choose some default tagging scheme from the various ones that existed at the time. What they chose was mostly from the JIC standards but with a few variations, based upon common practices of the time. But we have the option to modify to our delight, either by changing the default in the TAG attribute of the symbol files or by using the alternate wd_fam.dat ASCII file method. And not to forget you can use the Symbol Builder and just create your own symbol(s).
I think If AutoCAD Electrical had been developed in this decade we might had seen more of a strict adherence to current U.S. symbol standards, since the world is becoming more interested in not only national but international standards. For example the IEC library that ships with AutoCAD Electrical was developed a few years ago in accordance with IEC60617, which governs the appearance of the symbols, and IEC61346, which governs the tagging format. But two owners ago, when the program was developed, there were various published standards and even more common practice "defacto" standards. It's funny to note that today, with the published ANSI-Y32.2 and IEEE-315 symbol standards clearly in place, alongside the NFPA-79 and UL-508A safety standards, I can visit 5 companies and find 4 or maybe even 5 different "standards" in use in America.
Edited by: dougmcalexander on Aug 17, 2009 9:04 PM Edited by: dougmcalexander on Aug 17, 2009 9:13 PM
Doug McAlexander
Design Engineer/Consultant/Instructor/Mentor specializing in AutoCAD Electrical training and implementation support
Phone and Web-based Support Plans Available
Phone: (770) 841-8009
www.linkedin.com/in/doug-mcalexander-1a77623
Please Accept as Solution if I helped you. Likes are also much appreciated.
The term wire number is a form of colloquialism. It is actually an electrical node number, or even a potential number, to be downright technical about it. We have a colloquialism associated with ladders as well. Is it really a 1-phase ladder when you use L1 and L2? The term single-phase technically refers to a power source derived from a single "hot" phase and neutral,
The developers were tasked with creating an electrical design tool that allows us to design highly sophisticated machinery, yet the tool itself must be as intuitive as possible so the designer doesn't lose himself/herself in learning the tool. Thus it appears that the developers chose to incorporate common terminology and common practices into the software, not an absolute adherence to a certain standard. Again, back in the days when AutoCAD Electrical was created the established standard in the U.S. was more of an "every man for himself" standard.
Consider this: Where did we get the standard for using blue wire for D.C. control voltage? It is a “defacto” standard derived from the common practices at automobile manufacturers. Since automobile manufacturers were among the first to incorporate sophisticated control systems, their common practices became a “defacto” standard. Once in a while I run across someone who uses red for DC(+) and black for DC(-).
Don't assume that the major corporations are following standards to a proverbial “t”. One of the oldest and most recognizable electrical companies, known throughout the world, uses component tags on a "circuit-function" basis. Each time they insert a symbol they manually enter its tag, according to the component’s use within the machine. Thus no two relays will necessarily have the same tagging format. One may be RM12 while another is TM42, and another is KC14. The format has nothing to do with published electrical standards. They just have a system in place whereby the name of the relay tells them what control circuit function it serves.
In summation, I do not fault the developers of AutoCAD Electrical with regard to symbol libraries. They could have chosen to release a common design tool and let us create our own symbols. They gave us the symbol builder tool just for that purpose. But they were also kind enough to give us over 1500 symbols in various orientations as a sort of “starter set” that we could use and tweak as desired. With this starter set of symbols they had to choose some default tagging scheme from the various ones that existed at the time. What they chose was mostly from the JIC standards but with a few variations, based upon common practices of the time. But we have the option to modify to our delight, either by changing the default in the TAG attribute of the symbol files or by using the alternate wd_fam.dat ASCII file method. And not to forget you can use the Symbol Builder and just create your own symbol(s).
I think If AutoCAD Electrical had been developed in this decade we might had seen more of a strict adherence to current U.S. symbol standards, since the world is becoming more interested in not only national but international standards. For example the IEC library that ships with AutoCAD Electrical was developed a few years ago in accordance with IEC60617, which governs the appearance of the symbols, and IEC61346, which governs the tagging format. But two owners ago, when the program was developed, there were various published standards and even more common practice "defacto" standards. It's funny to note that today, with the published ANSI-Y32.2 and IEEE-315 symbol standards clearly in place, alongside the NFPA-79 and UL-508A safety standards, I can visit 5 companies and find 4 or maybe even 5 different "standards" in use in America.
Edited by: dougmcalexander on Aug 17, 2009 9:04 PM Edited by: dougmcalexander on Aug 17, 2009 9:13 PM
Doug McAlexander
Design Engineer/Consultant/Instructor/Mentor specializing in AutoCAD Electrical training and implementation support
Phone and Web-based Support Plans Available
Phone: (770) 841-8009
www.linkedin.com/in/doug-mcalexander-1a77623
Please Accept as Solution if I helped you. Likes are also much appreciated.
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