Guide to 3D Electrical Systems Design
using SolidWorks Routing
SolidWorks® Routing software helps automate the
design of routed systems, including electrical cabling
The World’s #1 and harness systems, along with tubing and piping
Mainstream 3D Design
systems.
Software
Working inside SolidWorks 3D mechanical design
software, the SolidWorks Routing add-in application
provides powerful 3D parametric routed systems
design tools and a valuable fitting and electrical con-
nector library that enable you to develop varying
types of routes quickly and easily. Railcar braking system
This guide includes: Design data courtesy of
These designs traditionally relied on hard prototypes WABCO Transit Division
to be created so that the path and details of electrical of Wabtec Corporation,
• The Benefits of 3D Inc.
cable and harnesses could be determined.
Routed System Design SolidWorks Routing enables the designers to de-
velop these designs before any hard prototypes are created.
• Advantages of using This helps accommodate customer demand for clean-looking, compact, tightly
SolidWorks Routing packaged products and competitive pressures to shorten design cycles, reduce
development costs, improve product quality, and accelerate time-to-market.
• SolidWorks Routing in a Advantages of SolidWorks Routing for designing
typical electrical design electrical cables and harnesses
process
• Graphical examples of Using SolidWorks Routing software for 3D routed system design has many ad-
the design process vantages over traditional 2D approaches, including:
• Faster product design – SolidWorks Routing software streamlines routing
design tasks by enabling you to create then edit routes in the 3D product
model, as opposed to working with hard prototypes.
• Quick, easy parametric design changes – Because SolidWorks Routing
software is parametric, associative, and fully integrated with the base Solid-
Works 3D model, making design changes becomes a fast and simple proc-
ess. For example, changes to the overall product dimensions will automati-
cally adjust cable/harness and wire lengths, saving you time while maintain-
ing design intent.
• Flexible, time-saving assembly design – SolidWorks provides the flexibility
to design assemblies using either top-down or bottom-up approaches. For
example, you can create all of the parts for an assembly first, then assemble
them; or design just the major parts of an assembly then create other neces-
sary parts for the system, including electrical cable routes, as you refine the
design.
• Improved product design visualization – The ability to visualize how your
electrical routes integrate with your product enables you to check your design
from any angle, identify potential issues, and resolve problems early in the
SolidWorks Routing auto- design cycle. Unlike traditional 2D wiring diagrams alone, 3D routed systems
mates the development of designs provide the opportunity to view the entire product from any angle
elaborate routed system de- before it is built. Using photorealistic rendering techniques, you can specify
signs, such as the railcar the look and texture of materials, backgrounds, and bases, and create anima-
braking system shown here. tions, including product rotations and disassemblies.
Image courtesy of WABCO Transit • Interference detection – SolidWorks enables you to check for interferences
Division of Wabtec between parts and assemblies, including routed system components, before
Corporation, Inc. manufacturing a single part.
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• Automatic drawing and documentation creation – SolidWorks automati-
cally generates 2D engineering drawings, including nail board drawings and
connector wiring instructions for electrical cables and harnesses to guide
manufacturing.
• Automatic bill of material (BOM) creation – SolidWorks can generate a
BOM automatically for all items in the electrical cable or harness design, such
as wire lengths or total electrical terminal requirements, and locates this infor-
mation on the drawing.
Step 1: Create the basic design of the Use of SolidWorks Routing in a typical electrical/electronic
product in SolidWorks prior to adding product design process
electrical routes.
Image courtesy of WABCO Transit Divi- Companies use different methods to design products that involve electri-
sion of Wabtec Corporation, Inc. cal aspects. The following process outlines how SolidWorks Routing can
play an import role in a generic electrical/electronic product design proc-
ess. This process will vary from industry to industry.
• Step 1: Generate your initial product design using SolidWorks
Engineers often begin the product design process by developing the general
electrical/electronic technology plan, along with the overall package or enclo-
sure design for the finished product. This includes beginning to add the ma-
jor components along with standard components to the product design.
• Step 2: Develop the electrical design, often working in parallel, using
electrical CAD tools (or other solutions)
The electrical detail design process may come before the mechanical proc-
ess, or in parallel with it. In either case the electrical design process typically
includes some PCB design (including 3D models of major components) along
with system-level electrical design. The systems-level design process typi-
cally generates a connection list (wire list) detailing how electrical compo-
nents are connected in the system throughout the design.
Step 2: Electrical design data is cre-
ated using electrical CAD tools or other • Step 3: Import electrical design details into SolidWorks using familiar
solutions (Sample systems-level sche- Microsoft Excel format
matic from ORCAD shown above). SolidWorks Routing is designed to import electrical CAD data, including
wire/cable libraries, component lists, and From-To connection information in
Microsoft Excel format.
• Step 4: Create desired electrical cable/harness route segments in the
SolidWorks-based systems design using autoroute, routing through
hangers/clips, route automatically on drop of clip, etc.
The electrical CAD data can be imported prior to creating 3D mechanical
routes or the information can be imported after the routes are “roughed in.”
This gives the mechanical engineer great flexibility in working with the electri-
cal/electronic design group. Importing the From-To connection information
along with the wire library information enables the software to automatically
size the outside diameter of cable/harness segments.
Developing a route is as easy as using the autorouting capability or sketching
in space. You can define routes by their relationships to other surfaces,
edges, or components, such as parallel or perpendicular, so that if a related
parameter changes, the route changes with it. You pre-place mounting clips
or hangers, then run the route through them or drag and drop the clips and
have the route automatically follow the clips. Adding a split entity point any-
Step 3: Import electrical design data where along the route enables you to add a branch of a harness segment.
into SolidWorks Routing using familiar The locations of a branch can be dimensioned or initially left floating until the
Microsoft® Excel format — available design is finalized.
from most electrical CAD tools.
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• Step 5: Edit the route designs as needed as the mechanical or electrical
details are refined
Changes to the mechanical design of the product (e.g., increasing the overall
length of the product) automatically change the length of the cable/harness
segments and length of individual wires in each segment. Revisions made by
the electrical design group can be re-exported to SolidWorks Routing (and re-
imported) which result in changes to the electrical segments (e.g., increases
in the number of wires in a segment will increase the O.D. of the 3D model of
the harness).
Step 4: Next, create desired electri-
cal cable/harness route segments • Step 6: Create manufacturing documentation for the cable/harness
in the design using autoroute, rout- routes, including harness board drawings, wire cut-lists, connector in-
ing through hangers/clips, route stallation details, and more
automatically on drop of clip, etc. After creating a harness or cable route in the 3D model, a 2D drawing of the
route can be created to detail the design for manufacturing. This 2D draw-
Image courtesy of WABCO Tran- ing, or nail board drawing, shows a flattened view of the 3D route and in-
sit Division of Wabtec cludes manufacturing details including bill of materials for the cable/harness,
Corporation, Inc. wire cutting lengths, wire summary, connection wiring details, etc. Changes
made to the 3D cable/harness route automatically change this nail-board
drawing documentation to ensure the documentation is consistent with the 3D
model of the electrical route.
Fitting and Connector Library parts and use of 3D component
models from industry sources
SolidWorks Routing allows you to use parts from the library of components in-
cluded with the product along with 3D parts from other sources. In addition, the
user can build his/her own parts. The
built-in library includes more than 2,000
Step 5: After creating your routes components and covers a wide range of
using SolidWorks Routing, you can basic electrical connectors and tubing
easily edit the design by drag & drop and pipe components. These parts are
of the route segment or re-importing built using Configuration Management
electrical design data, which resizes techniques, which SolidWorks offers for
the segments automatically. both parts and assemblies, unlike other
mid-range CAD products.
Image courtesy of WABCO
Transit Division of Wabtec Corpo-
Another great source for 3D parts,
ration, Inc.
ready for use with SolidWorks Routing,
is 3D ContentCentralSM
( www.3dcontentcentral.com ). This is Using SolidWorks Routing, electrical parts
accessible on the web or directly from can be equipped with intelligent informa-
the Design Library inside of SolidWorks tion including one or more connection
2005. points with required strip length for each
wire.
Electrical component manufacturers
frequently offer 3D models of components from their web site in generic CAD file
formats. These are generally easy to equip with necessary intelligent points to
take full advantage of the capabilities of SolidWorks Routing.
New versions of library parts can be generated easily by simply inserting addi-
tional records in the design tables for existing library parts. When you create new
Step 6: Complete the design by
creating manufacturing documenta-
components to meet your needs, you can also leverage configuration manage-
tion for the cable/harness routes, ment techniques to create variations of parts — of varying sizes, add options,
including harness board drawings, dimensions, etc. — from your original file. The powerful top-down assembly de-
wire cut-lists, connector installation sign techniques of SolidWorks software enable you to design these parts to fit
details, etc. between other parts, including routes that are sketched around existing compo-
nents. SolidWorks Routing enables these parts to be positioned automatically
Image courtesy of WABCO and mated in place when designing routed systems. Examples of custom parts
Transit Division of Wabtec Corpo- include terminals, cord clamps, plugs, receptacles, or any part that has
ration, Inc. wires/cables connected to it. These custom parts are typically created early in the
design process and saved in libraries for future use.
3
Summary
More and more of today’s products require some sort of routed system. If your
product designs include electrical cabling subsystems, tubing, or piping,
SolidWorks Routing software provides the automated capabilities you need to
bring products to market faster and more cost-effectively, helping you to meet the
demands of an increasingly competitive market.
For additional information about SolidWorks products, check out the online
SolidWorks Routing enables the SolidWorks Express newsletter at:
designer to add all the routed sys- http://www.solidworks.com/swexpress/index.html
tems to the design which improves
BOM accuracy and design com- SolidWorks Corporation
pleteness. 300 Baker Avenue
Concord, MA 01742 USA
Design courtesy of WABCO Transit
Division of Wabtec Corporation, Inc.
Toll-free: +1-800-693-9000
Outside the US: +1-978-371-5011
www.solidworks.com
info@solidworks.com
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Innovator of the Year 2003
NASA Tech Briefs:
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CADENCE magazine:
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Show — Best-of-Show Award
(2002)
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Show — Show Stopper Award
(2002)
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© 2004 SolidWorks Corporation. All rights
reserved. This information is subject to
change without notice.
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