The suggestion:
Add instance specific iProperty value overrides. Also, add additional “switches” of “override allowed”, “override required”, “non-empty required” to (these) iProperties, as an aid to IAM auditing. Allow the values of these “dynamic” iProperties to drive IDW parts list generation for aggregation of Part Numbers into single or multiple parts list rows. We’ve looked around for existing Add-Ins that address this issue, but haven’t seen anything that comes even close.
Please read on for a "context" of the "problem" that this is part of a solution to.
What we do:
We are an equipment manufacturer that designs and manufactures systems that include lots of sensors, actuators, motors, gearboxes, pneumatic cylinders and valves, etc. Also, we commonly have multiple instances of a multiple assemblies included at the top level assembly.
The problem:
Every one of those actuators, motors, sub-assemblies, etc. has an instance specific name/function that we have to carry forward, document and keep track of. Cylinder ports require valve ports, valve ports require valve coils, valve coils require PLC outputs, motors require starters, etc. Unless we’re ready to start programming, all of that “instance specific” information has to be carried forward outside of Inventor. PLM can help there, but there is no connectivity or ability to audit an assembly tree for mistakes of omission, or to harvest instance specific data added at design time. In general, Inventor has no user tools to allow IPT or IAM files to carry a whole class of “engineering data” up to higher levels in. Inventor has “attribute(s)” and “attribute sets” available at the API level that require programming to access, but nothing like the Autocad block Attributes available to the user.
Bigger picture:
I see this suggestion as just the tip of the iceberg. Our internal discussions of what features and functions are on our wish list, have boiled it down to a form of “exception throw/catch” ability. For example, cylinders would be iProp’d to require naming, and “throw” its extend and retract ports to be “caught” by a valve somewhere in the tree. The valve would in turn “re-throw” the port names and functions it “caught” as requirements for PLC output points in a report to be imported into the Acad Electrical schematics. The attribute API’s in Inventor are adequate for most of the functionality we want with the exception of fitting easily into the existing IDW detailing and parts list procedures. Another form of “throw/catch” functionality is lower level reference parts/assemblies “throwing” a requirement for a specific Part Number to be included as a virtual component at a higher level. In effect, let a virtual component link to an IPT/IAM anywhere in the tree to be used as a model geometry “stand in” for all IDW detailing purposes.
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