Topics Covered
The major topics covered in this chapter are:
• Inserting Components using Icon menu
• Inserting Components using Catalog Browser
• Inserting Components using User Defined list
• Inserting Components using Equipment list
• Inserting Components using Panel list
• Inserting Components using Terminal (Panel list)
• Pneumatic, Hydraulic, and P&ID components
ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
Electrical Components in AutoCAD Electrical are schematic symbols of various components used in electrical systems. There are various ways to insert the electrical components in AutoCAD Electrical. Some of the methods to insert electrical components are given next.
INSERTING COMPONENT USING ICON MENU
The Icon Menu tool is used to insert schematic symbols of various electrical components by using the Icon Menu. The procedure to use this tool is given next.
• Click on the Down arrow below Icon Menu button in the Schematic tab of the Ribbon. The list of tools will be displayed; refer to Figure-1.
Figure-1. List of tools
• Click on the Icon Menu tool in this menu. The Insert Component window will be displayed; refer to Figure-2.
Figure-2. Insert Component window
• Select the category of desired component from the Menu box at the left in the dialog box. Note that the categories that have a + sign before their name are having sub-categories to browse in. Note that you can specify the scale value for schematic symbols by using the Scale schematic edit box
available at the bottom of the dialog box.
• After selecting the category and subcategory, click on the desired symbol. The symbol will be attached to the cursor and you will be prompted to specify the location for the symbol; refer to Figure-3.
Figure-3. Component attached to cursor
• Click in the drawing area to place the component symbol at desired place. The Insert/Edit Component dialog box will be displayed; refer to Figure-4.
Figure-4. Insert Edit Component dialog box
• This dialog box is divided into various areas like; Component Tag, Description, Catalog Data, Cross-Reference and so on. The options in these areas specify various parameters of the component being inserted. We will start with the Component Tag area and then one by one we will use options in other areas.
Component Tag area
• The edit box in this area is used to specify the tag value for your current component. Click in the edit box and specify the desired value.
• You can link your component with PLC by using the tag of PLC. To do so, click on the Use PLC Address button. If your components are not directly connected to PLC via wires as in our case then the Connected PLC Address Not Found dialog box will be displayed; refer to Figure-5.
Figure-5. Connected PLC Address Not Found
• Click on the Drawing button to display all the PLC connections available. The PLC I/O Point List (this drawing) dialog box will be displayed as shown in Figure-6.
Figure-6. PLC IO Point List dialog box
• Select the desired plc pin from the dialog box and click on the OK button from the dialog box. The component will be linked to the selected pin of plc.
Schematic tag
• Using the Schematic button in the Component Tag area. The SOL Tags in Use dialog box will be displayed as shown in Figure-7.
Figure-7. SOL Tags in Use dialog box
• Select the Show all components for all families check box. The list of all the tags in the drawing will be displayed. Also the name of the dialog box will be modified as shown in All Tags in Use.
• Select the desired tag number and then select Copy Tag or Calculate Next button. If you select the Copy Tag button then same tag will be assigned to the current component. If you select the Calculate Next button then the next tag number will be assigned to the component. Note that in both the cases system will ask your permission to overwrite the tag value. Do as per your requirement.
In the same way, you can use the Panel button and the External List button from the Component Tag area.
Catalog Data area
The options in this area are used to link the inserted component to a catalog. A catalog is a collection of various related components in a categorized form. To specify the details of the Catalog Data follow the steps given next.
• Click in the Manufacturer edit box of the Catalog Data area and specify the name of the manufacturer. Name of various companies like AB, ABB, Siemens, and so on that manufacture
electrical components are available in the AutoCAD Electrical Database. You can also start a new manufacturer by specifying your desired name.
• Click in the Catalog edit box and specify the value of Catalog number. This number can include alphabets as well as numeric. For example, 300F-1PB.
• Click in the Assembly edit box and specify the desired value for assembly code.
• Click in the Item edit box and specify the item number for the component. Note that each type of component has a unique Item number.
• Click in the Count edit box and specify the number of components required in the current drawing.
The specified numbers will be automatically added in the Bill of Materials. The area after specifying all the values will be displayed as shown in Figure-8.
Figure-8. Catalog Data area
• Instead of specifying all the parameters related to Catalog data, you can pick the desired component’s details from the library of standard components in AutoCAD Electrical. To do so, click on the Lookup button in this area. The Catalog Browser dialog box will be displayed as shown in Figure-9.
Figure-9. Catalog Browser dialog box
• Select the desired option from the Category drop-down at the top in the dialog box. If you want to
check all the components in this category then click on the search button. The list of all the components in that category will be displayed.
• You can customize user search by specifying the desired keywords in the Search edit box. After specifying the keywords, click on the Search button. The list of components related to the specified keyword will be displayed.
• Double click on the desired component in the list. The related data will be displayed in the Catalog area.
• Similarly, you can use Drawing button or Project button to select the catalog data from earlier created components in the drawing or project respectively.
Multiple Catalog Data
• You can use multiple catalog for a component to display alternates for the component. To do so, click on the Multiple Catalog button from the Insert/Edit Component dialog box. The Multiple Bill of Material Information dialog box will be displayed; refer to Figure-10.
Figure-10. Multiple Bill of Material Information dialog box
• Enter the details of Manufacturer, Catalog, and Assembly in the related edit boxes. Now, you have specified first manufacturer of the desired component.
• Click on the Sequential Code drop-down and select 02 from the list displayed; refer to Figure-11.
Figure-11. Sequential Code drop down
• Specify the alternate data for Manufacturer, Catalog, and Assembly. Repeat the process until you get the desired number of alternates for the selected type of components. You can specify 99 alternates at max.
• After specifying the data, click on the OK button from the dialog box.
Description Area
The options in this area are used to specify the description about the component. To specify the description, follow the steps given next.
• Click in the Line 1 edit box in this area and specify the first line of description. Similarly, click in the Line 2 edit box and specify the second line of description.
• If you want to use description of any component in current drawing or project then click on the Drawing button or Project button respectively.
• The related dialog boxes will be displayed and you will be prompted to select the description of a component from the list. Select the desired component description and click on the OK button from the dialog box.
• You can also select the description from the default description list. To do so, click on the Defaults button in this area. The Descriptions dialog box will be displayed; refer to Figure-12.
Figure-12. Descriptions dialog box
• Double click on any of the description in this dialog box. Note that the lines with all capital characters are counted in the description. So, you need to double click only on those lines.
Cross-Reference Area
This is a very important area of the dialog box. Using the options in this area, you can link the pins of your component with the other components the drawing/project. The procedure to use options in this area is given next.
• When we insert a component in AutoCAD Electrical, then based on the already existing components, the inserted component is automatically referenced to existing components. This reference is of a certain reference format. To override this format, click on the Component override check box. The Setup button next to it will get activated.
• Click on the Setup button. The Cross-Reference Component Override dialog box will be displayed; refer to Figure-13.
Figure-13. Cross Reference Component Override dialog box
• Using the options in this dialog box, you can change the reference style. By default, for same drawing %N is used as reference number and for Between drawings %S.%N is used. Glossary is given next.
%S Sheet number of the drawing
%D Drawing number
%N Sequential or reference-based number applied to the component
%X Suffix character position for reference-based tagging (not present = end of tag)
%P IEC-style project code (default for drawing)
%I IEC-style “installation” code (default for drawing)
%L IEC-style “location” code (default for drawing)
• Specify the desired identifiers.
• You can also change the display format by using the radio buttons in the Component Cross- Reference Display area of the dialog box.
• After specifying the desired format style, click on the OK button from the dialog box to exit.
• Each component need to be specified by NC or NO contact points. NC means Normally Closed and NO means Normally Open. Using the Reference NO and Reference NC edit boxes, you can specify the references for the contact types.
• A switch generally has two pins, but if you are working on PLC or other integrated circuit components then you need to setup NC/NO for all the pins of components. To do so, click on the NO/NC Setup button. The Maximum NO/NC counts and/or allowed Pin numbers dialog box will be displayed; refer to Figure-14.
Figure-14. Maximum NO or NC counts dialog box
• Specify the numbers of contact types for different categories in this dialog box.
• In the Pin List edit box, you can define the connectivity of one pin with the other for NC, NO, COM, or others. Check the description in Option area of the dialog box to know the method of linking pins for switches.
Installation Code and Location Code
• The edit boxes in these areas are used to specify the installation code and location code for the current component. The installation code is used to specify the line or circuit identifier in which you want to add the component. For example, you can specify Line1 230VAC as installation code.
• Location code is used to specify the identifier for physical location of the component. For example, you can specify Sub-Panel 20 Pin as location code for the component.
Pins area
The options in this area are used to number the pins of the component so that later they can be connected with other components in the line. The procedure to use these options is given next.
• Click on the < button or the > button to decrease or increase the pin number.
• Click on the OK button from the dialog box to exit. The component will be displayed with the specified parameters in the drawing.