Electrical engineering: What data can it be?
Efficient product data workflow in electrical engineering with NX Industrial Electrical Design
For a smooth engineering process, electrical engineers need manufacturer-validated, high-quality product data of all installed electrical components. However, data search and its integration into your own engineering tools and workflows often turn out to be time-consuming. Not so at Siemens: Electrical engineers have access to the intelligent product data of the components via the Siemens Industry Mall. And the CAx-Download-Manager is available for the integration into the electrical engineering tools. The example of NX Industrial Electrical Design, the 4th generation e-CAD tool from Siemens, shows how seamlessly the two tools can be embedded in their own engineering workflow.
The Siemens Industry Mall is the platform on which Siemens‘ product portfolio is accessible. From the selection of products to the order and delivery tracking, the Industry Mall supports the complete purchase processing – directly and regardless of time and location. What‘s more, in addition to the commercial aspects, the mall also comprehensively maps all engineering aspects: Around 135,000 products of automation and drive technology are directly available to the electrical engineer. The electrical engineer has appropriate search and filter functionalities to select the appropriate product for his task. On the platform, all technical information of the selected product for the electrical construction is then available to him. The aim is to simplify and speed up the engineering process.
Product data transfer into existing electrical engineering tools
The CAx-Download-Manager allows you to access the always up-to-date product data and integrate it into any electrical engineering tool – not only in our own CAD tool NX Industrial Electrical Design. With the help of the functions of the CAx-Download-Manager, the engineer can put together his individual download package. The user decides which data is downloaded, for example only the device schematic and the data sheet or also the 3D model as well as commercial and technical data.
Mechatronic Engineering in Automation Designer – Electrical Engineering Now Included
Automation Designer from Siemens Digital Industries Software enables simultaneous, parallel engineering across all disciplines involved. The basis for this mechatronic engineering approach is a common data model for mechanical, electrical and automation engineering. This results in consistent data between system planning, mechanical CAD, circuit diagrams, PLC hardware configuration, signals and PLC software.
The mechatronic data model included in Automation Designer ensures consistency throughout the entire engineering process. As a result, the solution acts as a mechatronic control center and now offers NX Industrial Electrical Design, a fully integrated, full-fledged ECAD module whose data is synchronized with mechanical and automation engineering.
Integrated in NX, Industrial Electrical Design includes extensive functionality for the creation of circuit diagrams and 3D cabinet design. This data model links the 2D schematic symbols and the corresponding representation in the 3D cabinet. Thus, the electrical engineer has consistent data at all times and the possibility to navigate between the circuit diagram and the control cabinet display.
Product data in the electrical engineering workflow
NX Industrial Electrical Design manages the data of the manufacturer‘s catalogs within the NX Reuse Library. From here, the intelligent data can be used for the creation of the schematic and the control cabinet layout. The NX Reuse Library can be filled directly via the Siemens Industry Mall or the CAx-Download-Manager. This is optimally integrated into the electrical engineering workflow, as the Siemens Industry Mall or the CAx-Download-Manager are integrated directly into the NX Industrial Electrical Design user interface.
How the process works in reality
The electrical engineer has the opportunity to search for suitable new products for his tasks directly in his engineering environment. These are transferred to the NX Reuse Library with the help of the CAx-Download-Manager. For this purpose, the CAx-Download-Manager uses the eCl@ss Advanced data exchange format. NX Industrial Electrical Design provides a standard eCl@ss import to attach this eCl@ss data to the NX Reuse Library. These products can be used immediately to create electrical schematics or control cabinet layouts.
Want to learn more? Our products enable a wholistic engineering of production systems from mechanical concept through to complete PLC code. Automation Designer offers a one-of-a-kind engineering toolset, designed from the ground up to enable controls engineers to complete their work with the highest efficiency, quality and speed possible. Electrical and automation engineers work on the same backbone, with an integrated data model, saving time and eliminating errors. Directly integrate mechanical engineering data and receive updates, improving collaboration across your organization. Learn more about NX Industrial Electrical Design and NX Automation Designer.
