Evolution of Component Creation

The new year makes us all think about new beginnings, to forge ahead with new ideas and resolutions, and carry the cheer of the holidays with for as long as possible. In 2018, Zuken added some cheer to the design side of our lives with the partnership with CADENAS and ECAD-Port to bring components from manufacturers to the users. The automated component creation and development engine are gathering steam with parts coming online for all users.

The Cadenas portal brings to life the idea of combining 3D mechanical data and electrical data together in one easy-to-manage space to improve productivity. First of all, users from both mechanical and electrical disciplines are looking at the same data. Having the flexibility to pull only the data needed for the design reduces the undesired complexities that otherwise plague component management solutions. The plan is to make a large number of parts from multiple manufacturers available for all users to accelerate the design cycle.

The Secret Sauce

The highlight of this partnership is the ability to bring the parts directly into the Zuken database with a planned add-on for E3.series version 2019. The components available are being designed to meet a minimum standard to ensure uniformity and reliability. The demo video below clearly illustrates the massive difference an online portal makes by making parts available on the fly. Here’s the demo video if you haven’t seen it yet Direct Import to E3.series 2019. The breakthrough here is the ability to support the maximum cross-section of users. The majority of parts available for download support all versions from version 2012 onwards. On top of that, the ease of using native tools to bring the components into the library accelerates the component creation process.

The components are individually available and the server creates them on demand. The download process is the same be it for a certain mechanical package or for   Zuken. This simplifies things for the user, who can now access multiple resources in one place. There are parts available now on the Cadenas parts community to sample. We encourage you to sample the parts and provide us with any feedback that you might have to improve the process. For easy access to the Zuken/Cadenas community follow this link – https://zuken.partcommunity.com. All new users must register to be able to download a part. The registration process is easy and takes just a few minutes.

Step by Step Solution

The download process is straightforward and requires only a simple search to find the desired parts. Here’s a video demonstration of the process as an alternative to reading – the choice is yours.

Step 1

Visit https://zuken.partcommunity.com and use the search bar to type the desired part number. Alternatively, classification options are a great tool to refine the search parameters. The availability of parts is currently restricted to simpler parts like connectors and fuses as opposed to PLCs. With active user feedback and after streamlining, the complex category parts will be available in the future. Select the desired part/component and review the details.

Step 2

The CAD DOWNLOAD button provides the option of selecting the software package. Select Zuken as the CAD option and it will nudge the server to start creating the required package.

Step 3

The server will notify you the file is ready for download in a few moments. From there, simply download the file onto the computer. The file received with this method is a *.mdb file (MS Access database)

Step 4

Using the CopyDatabaseEntries tool, import the connector to an E3.series library. The tool is available with the E3.series software package to be installed. It is important to remember the CopyDatabaseEntries tool is version-specific; for use with the corresponding version of E3.series. If you haven’t used CopyDatabaseEntries tool yet, the Zuken Community videos can give you a quick walkthrough.  And on that note, if you haven’t signed up for the Zuken Community – head on over to https://community.zukenusa.com and sign up now.

The E3.CopyDatabaseEntries How to Video will layout the steps for library data transfer.

Step 5

Now you are ready to use the newly downloaded component in your project.

The Road Ahead

The team is busy bringing manufacturers online to share their treasure trove of data with users. User feedback and use cases are driving the effort towards an automated system that can accelerate design and increase quality. The eClass data sharing format is a well-established industry standard supported by all the partners. It is clear that a universal standard for design data format is going to play a pivotal role in the long-term success of this endeavor. Data reuse for multiple applications is a logical next step given Cadenas is able to store all the data in the eClass format.

This entire effort is to assist users and make the design and manufacturing process more streamlined. We can use your help in making this process more efficient and effective. If you have a manufacturer library in mind you can advise us or your supplier contact to get us to work together in bringing the data to your fingertips. The goal is to make components available for Zuken users and enhance the data available for upstream and downstream applications.

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Have you seen the sugar monster?

Halloween is a strange and wonderful time for everybody. Isn’t it priceless to see the effort kids (and grown-ups) put into dressing up and walking around begging for treats? If scary is what you’re going for, try getting in between the little ones and their candy, or worse, sticking around after they’ve had too much! No matter how you look at it, kids, candy and Halloween together is like a great horror movie – so much fun, because it’s so scary!

The double-edged sword of candy and Halloween is a long discussion. Every Halloween my doorbell rings, I hear the words ‘trick or treat’ and candy leaves my house. But no success yet in tricking anyone to leave the candy for me.

I seem to have better luck surprising people with design tricks in E3.series, so let’s talk about that instead. There are some treats in store for you as well but let’s start with the tricks.

Losing yourself in 256 levels of excitement…

The age-old drafting function ‘layer’ is widely used in design to manage the information on a drawing. Needless to say, it is easy to forget it exists in E3.series with all the other automation and intelligence making life easy. Layers are known as Levels in E3.series and they are, as you might guess, a much more intelligent version than the ghost of the old design tools. The trick here is to use the levels to help you standardize and reduce the effort to create a perfect drawing.

Levels in E3.series can control multiple items all at once or you can choose to control them individually. Easily show/hide elements of your choice on any of the 256 levels available in the project. The standard library uses levels as a basic guide for standardization, making the library a perfect place to assign specific levels to the design elements controlled by project-specific configuration.

Each level is sub-divided into:

• Symbol
• Symbol Graphics
• Symbol Text
• Empty Text – Attributes or Text Types that have no value hidden by default
• Graphic
• Text
• Connections

Users can quickly change project configurations by using Read and Write level configuration options. The ability to export, standardize and automate improves time savings and productivity. If you haven’t tried levels before or simply forgot about them it is time to give it a shot and level up your designs.

The curious case of connector information

The information displayed in a drawing can vary from one project to the next. You shouldn’t have to go change the library every time or have to maintain separate libraries to adhere to standards. In E3.series the library can truly be a single source of truth – the question is ‘how’ isn’t it?

I am sure you can relate to having to display or find one particular detail of a connector at the worst time possible. Invariably, caught wishing you had saved it the last time you had to go look it up in a datasheet. Levels, although great, are not a solution for the dynamic nature of information attached to connectors and their pins. The challenge; do you make it visible all the time in the drawing? Would it be better for this information to show up on the drawing as and when you need it?

Connectors have their own attribute visibility manager in the settings for any project in E3.series. The visibility of the attribute text is managed for the first, last and the middle pins. If you think about attributes like a part number or device tag, you’ll likely want to show the part number below on the last pin, and the device tag only above a set of connector pins rather than on each pin.

The idea here is to not have to create custom symbols for pins but rather use generic symbols. A novel solution like this enables configuring your project as the requirements evolve. I use about eight pin symbols to represent thousands of connectors and these settings are a blessing. I don’t even want to think about managing all those connectors without this feature.

What is reality, if not shared perception?

We have dozens of such tips, tricks and sage advice available on this blog and in the Zuken community. If you haven’t signed up for the community you are missing the protection of being in the inner circle and validating your reality – https://community.zukenusa.com

Head to the island to be safe, the zombies are coming…

Zuken Innovation World Americas 2019 is being held in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina from April 15-17, 2019. It is a wonderful place to learn more about the solutions directly from the experts. You’ll enjoy many networking opportunities with your colleagues amidst the soothing sound of the waves caressing the soft sandy beach.

The presentations by customers and industry experts are the highlight of the agenda. If you haven’t submitted your abstract, now is the time – the call for papers closes November 2, 2018. The information and topics are always going to be a treat but there are additional perks to presenting and the real TREAT is that approved speakers attend FREE!

Enjoy these tricks and treats on your next design project, and if you find yourself with any leftover Halloween candy, I hope you’ll send it my way!

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The video below illustrates the process on how an E3.series user can create and save their own toolbars and keyboard commands.

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The required tabs/windows can be moved to a second screen (if available) to increase drawing space. The smart tab option activated in the customization menu helps move the windows into required locations with markers for easy access. The windows can be hidden to the side to automatically pop up when needed and stay out of the way at other times.

The project windows provide quick access to all the drawing sheets and devices added into the project. Panel parts can be accessed in a separate window subdivided into used and unused parts (this can be done for the regular device tab as well)

These customizations can go further with the options of customizing project windows and the items displayed in them. The View menu gives you access to several bulk data tables that can make light work of multiple changes. These tables are also customizable and provide access to all attributes in context.

It is best to have 2 workspaces in case there is ever a need to reset to a default workspace based on the design requirements.

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The most common application is to load the connectors and signals from Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in the electrical design. Blocks can be used to represent systems and the Excel sheet can help you get the system information from other teams or 3rd party vendors.

The information that needs to be included in the Excel sheet is as follow:

• Part number –The part number must be present in your library to ensure a successful lookup from Excel.
• Device tag – tags can be edited in the project.
• Device pin names can be defined or can use default names from the library.
• Signals – avoid rework by using signals from the Excel sheet and edit them in the project as required.

Linking the ‘Block’ and the Excel sheet enables the user to update the project based on changes in the Excel sheet. The pin, signal and other information can be easily updated in the project using the dedicated update block command.

If you use the amazing Harness Builder extension for E3.series you can import connectors and related connections. The import tool helps in accelerating the creation of a harness in E3.series by helping you define the connectivity in Excel.

The option of working with Excel and .csv files to eliminate rework is a real time-saver and is highly recommended for all designers trying to maximize their productivity.

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Shared sheets are real spaces created to scale that fit in a standard drawing border and help you design large systems in separate spaces while keeping them connected. The master drawing/sheet can be a whole system with different drawings/sheets becoming the sub-systems. The shared sheets are important in many applications where the size of the system is bigger than any one drawing can hold, but at the same time the scale and topology of the entire drawing is best maintained together.

The basic information for a shared sheet is the same for formboard and panel with the change being the type/format of the drawing/sheet. The settings for panel and formboard for the shared region are managed separately.

E3.series with the shared sheet option for panels and formboard/nailboard makes it easy to design a large system and we will be looking at the quick steps needed to get started.

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