E3.series 2017 Delivers on Productivity and Third Party Integration
27 July 2017 – Munich, Germany and Westford, MA, USA – Zuken announces the availability of E3.series 2017, which marks another milestone in the continuous evolution of Zuken’s powerful electrical, wire harness, and fluid engineering design tool. The latest release contains new and enhanced functionality that further increases productivity throughout all phases of engineering, from design to manufacture. New third party integrations extend the E3.series ecosystem of solutions.
Zuken’s E3.series is a Windows-based, scalable, easy-to-learn system for the design of wiring and control systems, hydraulics and pneumatics. Its object-oriented architecture provides an integrated and consistent design approach to help eliminate errors, improve quality and reduce design time.
Enhancements in E3.series 2017 cover all main E3.series modules: E3.schematic, E3.cable, E3.panel, E3.formboard and E3.PLC Bridge.
Schematic capture and documentation
E3.schematic helps electrical engineers design and document electrical control systems including schematic diagrams, terminal plans and PLCs. E3.cable is used for designing and documenting cable plans and harness layouts. New feature highlights in E3.schematic and E3.cable include:
- ‘Auto Route by selection’ allows interactive autorouting of two selected pins.
- ‘Insert multiple’: Load multiple devices from the library in a single action.
- Transfer graphical properties and device attributes between objects using new graphic and format painter functionality.
- When creating detailed cable plans with E3.cable, wire seals can now be automatically added to all devices that are flagged as sealed in the device properties.
2D/3D cabinet layout and routing
Working in either two or three dimensions, E3.panel allows engineers to layout components inside panel enclosures. New feature highlights in E3.panel include:
- Mounting rails and cable ducts can now be placed and rotated to any angle, with docking points for automatic placement and routing rotated accordingly. This allows greater freedom in panel design with improved use of available space, especially in panel layout where form, fit and function are rapidly gaining importance.
- New sorting functionality for terminal strips offering enhanced cabinet layout. Several terminal strips can be selected for simultaneous sorting, with selection applied in the device tree or by area, in both the device tree and the terminal table. This offers time savings as all terminal strips can be sorted in one step rather than separately.
New integration for engineering data management
Design data management and library management capabilities have been enhanced through integrating DS-E3 functionality into the E3.series user interface. This allows the user to access certified library information, manage options and variants and initiate or respond to change requests within the E3.series environment. For the first time, electrical design data can be integrated with electronic data using the DS-2 platform.
AML format supported in E3.PLC Bridge
On a process level, integration into parallel and downstream activities and disciplines has been deepened. The choice of supported formats for data exchange with mechanical engineering and PLC programming toolsets has been extended to include the AML format for the exchange of PLC data. AML is used by leading PLC Manufacturers such as ABB, Siemens, Lenze, Phoenix Contact, Mitsubishi Electric and Murr Elektronik. The new AML import and export capabilities included in E3.PLC Bridge add to the existing interfaces of B&R and ABB.
New Module E3.NCBridge for Siemens CMC Topo
Siemens CreateMyConfig (CMC) Topo is used by OEMS to perform automated commissioning/production using modular machines. The new module, E3.NCBridge for Siemens CMC Topo allows unidirectional interface between E3.series schematics and the target system via XML.
New export formats in E3.3D Routing Bridge
Using the E3.3D Routing Bridge, schematic and connection information from E3.series can be interfaced to all major MCAD systems. Collaborating between E3.series and the chosen MCAD tool allows concurrent design. New export formats are:
- CATElectre, a new EWR module from Dassault
- KBL (STEP AP212/KBL 2.3)