Questions about Inventor Cable and Harness and Autocad Electrical

[sam.lamb]

Hey guys,

I've been fiddling around with Inventor and Autocad Electrical 2012 and I'm trying to get a feel for creating detailed wiring schematics by using Inventor to wire components and import the data into Electrical to create the schematic.  I am not an electrical engineer though, I'm a mechanical engineer.  I'm trying to learn this new software so I can teach the electrical engineer how to use it because he's an older guy and not so technically inclined.  I have a few questions about this software but I suppose I'll tackle them one at a time.  The first question is: when I import the Inventor data into Electrical, is there a way to get Electrical to show the proper symbols for components?  For instance, I have a wire coming from a pilot light, going to a junction block, coming out of the junction block and going into a 21 pin connector.  All I seem to get electrical to do is display the default connector symbol for each component.  Do I have to go in and change all the symbols after I've wired all the components or can electrical do this automatically?

[sam.lamb]

Hey guys,

I've been fiddling around with Inventor and Autocad Electrical 2012 and I'm trying to get a feel for creating detailed wiring schematics by using Inventor to wire components and import the data into Electrical to create the schematic.  I am not an electrical engineer though, I'm a mechanical engineer.  I'm trying to learn this new software so I can teach the electrical engineer how to use it because he's an older guy and not so technically inclined.  I have a few questions about this software but I suppose I'll tackle them one at a time.  The first question is: when I import the Inventor data into Electrical, is there a way to get Electrical to show the proper symbols for components?  For instance, I have a wire coming from a pilot light, going to a junction block, coming out of the junction block and going into a 21 pin connector.  All I seem to get electrical to do is display the default connector symbol for each component.  Do I have to go in and change all the symbols after I've wired all the components or can electrical do this automatically?

[rhesusminus]

You CAN use this tool for internal wiring within a cabinet, but it's meant to only be used for cable/harness functions. That's why the import of the XML file from Inventor Pro is named "Insert Connector from List", and it will only work with automatic insertion of connectors.

You can however, place the components that you want to be connected together, before you run the "Insert connector from list" command. You will see a "x" in front of all the components that already exists in the schematics, and then you can just press "Wire it". However.. you'll have to manually name all the components and make sure that the connection points have the correct number.

THL

[sam.lamb]

Thanks for the reply rhesusminus.  Yeah I'm starting to realize that this tool is intended for only cable and harness work.  I have been able to make some progress in using it for all wiring though.  I can import the wire data into Electrical, place components, and wire them.  Then, I can go in and use the "swap block" command to change symbols to actual electrical schematic symbols.  The main issue I'm running into now is when I switch the symbol, the existing wires don't necessarily connect correctly.  Are you sure that I'll have to manually name all the components or can I set all that up in Inventor before exporting?  I haven't noticed the connection points issue yet but I also haven't messed with it that much.  I think you're right about that though.  If this is the case, is there a way around this, maybe by editing symbols or something?  Most of the electrical components only have a pin in and a pin out though so this might not be that big of a deal.  Do you know of anyone who uses Inventor Cable and Harness to connect all the wiring?  Well, I better get back to work.

Thanks,

Sam

[rhesusminus]

The workflow Autodesk has planned here, is to draw the schematics and the inventor model at the same time. So when you export the cable/wiring data from AcadE, and start the import in Inventor, you have alredy tagged the components in AcadE, and can decide "on the fly" what Inventor parts that corresponds to the different components in the schematics.
The other way around, as you try to do it, is only possible using connector symbols.
You will have to use pin numbers (unique names for each connection point) in the Inventor model so that AcadE knows what pin to connect the wires to.

I know of customers using this, but they do it the other way around, AcadE controls the wiring in the Inventor model.

If you insist on drawing the schematics after you've wired everything in Inventor, I guess you're btter of drawing it manually in AcadE. Maybe based on a wiring table created in Inventor?

I'm really hoping Autodesk is working on improvements to the Inventor/AcadE connection as it has been untouched by them for at least the five latest releases.

THL