What’s New in E3.series 2022

The E3.series 2022 release focuses on improving the digital twin creation process and simplifying the adoption of smart manufacturing. There has never been a stronger push to streamline automated manufacturing and assembly processes and uncover the next generation of innovative manufacturing techniques. However, a significant roadblock to adopting smart manufacturing techniques is the lack of data to support these automated assembly and manufacturing processes. Smart manufacturing needs intelligent data to enable automation without increasing exasperating quality issues. E3.series is bridging the gap to allow a digital-first workflow from design to manufacturing.

The latest release of E3.series includes over 50 new features, enhancements, and tools to improve reliability, efficiency, and productivity. The enhancement in cabinet design focus on simplifying the design-to-assembly process. For instance, the improved 3D visualization of parts and wires helps assembly and manufacturing to be driven directly from design data. Similarly, the cable and wire harness design enhancements focus on improving the capturing of manufacturing details and simplifying design reuse. Additionally, the usability enhancements focus on further simplifying the user experience to increase productivity and reduce ramp-up time. Furthermore,  the updates to active and passive design rules check significantly improve design quality.

Here are some of the new features and enhancements

1. Enhanced Busbar Handling in Cabinet Design
2. Localized 3D visualization
3. Upgraded automatic wire routing options
4. Prefabricated cable assemblies.
5. Enhanced Wire Harness Diameter Calculations
6. Assign Sub-circuits to Any Component
7. Access bulk data tables in E3.series 2022 viewer and redliner modules
8. Improved auto placement of bundle symbols

Enhanced Busbar Handling in Cabinet Design

Busbars are mainstays of power distribution systems in electrical cabinet and machinery design. Nevertheless, it is a common practice to include only a mock representation of a busbar in the electrical design while detailing it in the mechanical design instead. However, it is essential to have busbars connections and layouts in the electrical design to help drive the next generation of automated manufacturing and assembly solutions.

E3.series 2022 adds a new dedicated component type for busbars in the library with special schematic and cabinet design functions. Notably, busbar components can be mounted directly to a busbar with a simple drag and drop. Moreover, multiple schematic representations of the busbar correspond to a single physical part in the cabinet to improve the accuracy of the cabinet design. As a result, it is easier to manage busbar connectors, taps, and power distribution components that mount directly on the busbar.

Localized 3D Visualization

E3.series provides industry-leading features to simplify 3D cabinet design. Since 3D data is essential for creating an accurate digital representation of any electrical cabinet, E3.series allows designers to design in 2D and get the result in 3D. As a result, the users avoid the overhead of designing in 3D while enjoying the form, fit, and function checks of 3D design.

The new 3D visualization options enable users to view individual sections of a cabinet in 3D. The individual sheet 3D option is in addition to the visualization of all the cabinets in a project together. The new options aim to empower manufacturing and assembly processes to visualize the cabinet design easily on a portable device.

Upgraded Automatic Wire Routing Options

E3.series helps cabinet designers maximize space utilization and get accurate wire lengths with the automatic routing feature. The auto-routing algorithm selects the shortest path with options to daisy chain to remove duplicate routes using the logical connection from the schematic. The 2022 release adds multiple design rule checks and opportunities for further improving the wire route. Users can now control the DRCs for wire collision with components, pins, and restricted areas to customize the routing process.

Enhanced Wire Harness Diameter Calculations

Managing the outer diameter of a wire harness design is crucial to ensure form and fit. The outer diameter of a wire harness varies across sections, driven by the size and number of wires in the section. Accurately calculating the outer diameter of sections of a wire harness has always been one of the standout features of E3.series. A sophisticated packing algorithm in E3.series considers the various factors to calculate the outer diameter accurately.

The latest update drastically reduces the calculation time for the outer diameter of a selected wire or multi-core cable bundle. Notably, the faster processing enables designers to add a new text type to show bundle diameter on drawings. More importantly, as with everything in E3.series, the text types are always up to date.

Prefabricated cable assemblies and wire harnesses

Modularization has also increased the use of prefabricated cables and wire harnesses in designs. Prefabricated cables and wire harnesses are easy to use and improve manufacturing consistency. However, designers must pay close attention to the logical and physical characteristics to avoid accidental changes in the project. The most efficient solution is to store the prefabricated cables in a shared design library accessible to all designers.

In 2022, E3.series adds options to configure connectivity between multiple parts in the library. As a result, sharing the preconfigured components across teams and projects is simple and effective. Notably, the preconfigured cables are available in the project with predefined connectivity and physical characteristics. Furthermore, the option to lock both the logical and physical attributes ensures consistency across the project. More importantly, the added flexibility of defining one or more connections inside the assembly enables the use of complex prefabricated cables and wire harnesses.

Assign Sub-circuits to Any Component

The sub-circuits feature helps users manage prebuilt design elements in the E3.series library. The shared library ensures the team works on the same information across sites and projects. The subcircuits have a dedicated component category to manage all the reuse packages consistently. E3.series 2022 builds on the subcircuit concept to enable attaching saved design to all components. As a result, users can now place traditional symbols or preset drawings from the same component. Additionally, the user can place the subcircuits on the drawing directly or add them to the project clipboard with paste extended. The paste-extended option helps users review details and manage collisions or conflicts.

Access bulk data tables in E3.series 2022 viewer and redliner modules

The bulk data tables are one of the most appreciated editing features in E3.series. The configurable data tables help users visualize project data in a tabular format with options to make changes en masse. Previously, the data tables were only available with editing modules of E3.series. As a result, the E3.series viewer and redliner modules did not have access to bulk data tables. In 2022, a read-only version of the tables will be available to the viewer and redliner module users. The users can now look at drawings, cables, devices, pins, connections, and terminals in a bulk table format.

Improved auto placement of bundle symbols

Annotating the designs to communicate design better and manufacturing intent is crucial for a streamlined process. As a result, the overhead of adding the details falls on the designers. Auto-placement options for standard annotations can save time and improve the quality of the design. The auto-placement features in E3.series simplify the annotation of wires and cables with symbols for shielding, twisted pairs, and other bundle symbols. E3.series 2022 enables new configuration options for line overlap values to manage the auto-placement of the three annotation categories. The IEEE standard 315 outlines the annotation symbol overlap parameters for the cable and wires. With customers moving towards adopting IEEE standard 315, automating the compliance parameters for symbol placement directly impacts design time.

Conclusion

The 2022 release of E3.series has an exciting mix of new features and enhancements to cover the entire electrical design spectrum. The latest release includes many more features and functions to drive the digital twin creation process, improve efficiency and productivity, and drive smart manufacturing. The enhancements for schematic, cabinet, wire harness, and systems design make this release a must for all users. The release notes and installation package have a complete list of enhancements, updates, and new features. To learn more, visit https://www.zuken.com/us/product/e3series/e3-series-release-2022/