Creating Wire Group References

This task explains how to create a wire group reference. A wire group is an electrical object representing a multiconductor cable, for example a twisted pair. It may contain wires and/or wire groups, themselves containing wires and/or wire groups.

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Wire group reference can be created by aggregating: built-in wires or wire groups (as manufactured for example) or wire references/wire group references from catalogs.

Wire groups can be stored in catalog, using the dedicated command.

It is possible to import/export wire groups specifications from/to ECAD (using CAA API or XML files).
aprereq.gif (1223 bytes) Open a new product document.
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  1. Click Define Wire Group .
    You are prompted to select the root product

  2. Select Product1.

    The dialog box opens:

  3. Specify the parameters of interest:

    1. Enter a value in the Part Number field

    2. Enter a value in Type field: it can be Generic or Shielded.

      • Generic is the standard value
      • Shielded: two extremities (ElecWireGroupExtremities) are published.
        This makes it possible to prepare ground connection (ground return) for further use.

    3. Enter a value in the Sub Type field, if needed

    4. Enter a string in the Color field, if needed

    5. Enter a value in the Diameter field

    6. Enter a value in the Wire Length Coefficient field:
      It is a real, greater than/equal to 1 (default value is 1)
      It takes into account the wire twisting to compute the wire length:
      Wire Length = Wire Group Length x Wire Length Coefficient.

    7. Enter a value in the Bend Radius field.

    You can then add wires or wire groups.

  4. Click Add Wire

    The dialog box opens:

  5. Specify the parameters of interest:

    1. Enter a value in the Part Number field

    2. Enter a value in the Section field or

    3. Enter a value in the Diameter field

    4. Enter a value in the Bend Radius field

    5. Enter a string in the Color field

    6. Enter the Number of wires you want to create using these attributes.
    • If you enter a value in Section, the Diameter is computed and vice-versa.
    • According to the last parameter entered, the other one is computed using knowledgeware.

  6. Click Add Wire Group.
    Repeat step 3, a to g.

  7. Click OK to validate.

Creating Wire Groups From Catalogs
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  1. Click Define Wire Group .
    You are prompted to select the root product

  2. Select Product1.

    The dialog box opens:

  3. Click OK to validate.

  4. Click Catalog Browser and open CatalogOfWires.catalog for example.

    The full path is: .../online/elbug_C2/samples/CatalogOfWires.catalog.

  5. Double-click Power wires: the folder content is displayed.

  6. Select wire1, drag and drop it onto the Product1 in the specification tree.

    The wire is added to the wire group.
    This also applies to add wire group from catalog to a wire group.

  7. Close the Catalog Browser.

Remember:

  • A wire group reference is defined in a CATProduct document.
  • The selected product must be the root product.
  • A wire group may contain other wire groups and/or wires.
  • A wire group has no visualization
  • A wire group only has extremities if it is shielded (those extremities will be used in further release for grounding purpose). For the time being, the ground connection will not be managed so the Shielded wire group will have the behavior as the Generic one.
  • A wire group can only be created from wire references and not from wires already instantiated.