Place and Connect Items in a Cable Block Diagram - Intergraph Smart Electrical - Help - Hexagon

Intergraph Smart Electrical Help

Language
English
Product
Intergraph Smart Electrical
Search by Category
Help
Smart Electrical Version
10

This procedure shows you how to place electrical items on an open CBD drawing and connect the placed cables between appropriate items.

To symbolize the placed items on the drawing, the software uses either a shipped symbol taken from the reference data (specified by you on the Locations page in Options Manager) or a custom symbol that you have associated with a specific item. If these images are not available in the specified folder, the software uses a default image taken from the shipped reference data. See Defining File Locations in the Smart Electrical Option Manager help.

For details about various actions that you can carry out in a cable block diagram. see Working with Smart Data and Auxiliary Graphics in a CBD.

  1. Open a cable block diagram or create a new one.

  2. Drag the appropriate items from the Electrical Index, Reference Data Explorer, or Electrical Engineer to the open drawing and position them on the drawing as needed.

    SHARED Tip You can drag the following items to an open cable block diagram:

    • All electrical equipment items apart from buses, and relay functions.

      • You can drag disconnect electrical equipment items if they are stand-alone items, that is, if they do not belong to any circuits.

      • Metering equipment items can be dragged only if they are current transformers or potential transformers.

    • All wiring equipment items (panels, cables, and so forth) apart from busways, glands and cableway components.

    • In addition to smart graphics, you can also add auxiliary graphics, redlining, and annotations to your CBD. See Working with Smart Data and Auxiliary Graphics in a CBD. After you save the drawing, the software retains all your additions and modifications.

    When placing a circuit or a PDB on a cable block diagram, the following rules apply:

    • Placing a circuit is allowed only if the parent PDB of the circuit is not in the current cable block diagram.

    • Placing a power distribution board is allowed only if none of the child circuits have been placed in the current cable block diagram.

  3. To connect a cable that has been placed on a CBD drawing, do the following

    1. In the open drawing, select an appropriate cable.

    2. Drag an appropriate cable end to the connection point of the item you want the cable to connect 'From'.

      • After dragging the cable that you want to connect to the symbol of a valid equipment item, the software switches on all the available connection points on that equipment symbol. The connection points on that symbol are turned on only when the dragged cable is very close to or hovers over the equipment symbol to which you are dragging the cable. If you drag the cable to another equipment symbol, the connection points on the previous symbol are turned off.

      • The software displays only the connection points available for the specific category of the cable chosen. For more details, see Place Point Ribbon (Smart Electrical) in the Catalog Manager help. If no connection points are available, the software does not allow the cable to be connected.

      • If the symbol to which you want to connect the cable does not have enough connection points, the software displays a message informing you that there is a shortage of connection points on that symbol.

    3. Drag the other cable end to the connection point of the item you want the cable to connect 'To'.

      • For the rules that govern the connection to circuit symbols, see Rules for Connecting to Circuit Symbols.

      • When using a reference cable to connect items in a CBD, the software automatically creates a plant cable in the Electrical Index and makes all the required associations.

  4. To disconnect a cable from an electrical item in a CBD, select the required cable end and drag it away from the connection point.

  5. When done, select Save PPM All Outputs Graphic on the main toolbar before closing the drawing.

  • After connecting a cable to an equipment item in a CBD, the software retains the connection points on the equipment symbol for all other CBDs where this equipment is used. That is, when placing this equipment on another CBD, all the existing connection points are retained on the equipment symbol as they were during the original connection and it will not be possible to connect other cables using those connection points. The software stops retaining connection points of equipment symbols if you disconnect the equipment in a CBD. Also, the software does not retain the connection points after changing the symbol of connected equipment.

  • You can also place auxiliary graphics, such as redlining, annotations, and water marks. For information on how the software behaves when placing these and other items in a cable block diagram, see Working with Smart Data and Auxiliary Graphics in a CBD.

  • Sometimes, after the software opens a drawing, the distance between connected items is either too long or too short, which results in an inappropriate display of connectors. To control the visual consistency of connectors, you can set a Clearance value that specifies the amount of space that the software will maintain between the connector and the connected element (also known as range avoidance). This action allows you to control the visual consistency of connectors that make right-angle turns just before they attach to a symbol.

  • To set Clearance, select a connector and then type the minimum distance from the symbols where you would like the first turn in the connectors to occur. Note that the default setting is zero.

  • You can also associate cables with a specific circuit either in the Cable Common Properties or the Electrical Engineer.

  • Selecting Refresh also saves the drawing. If you do not use Refresh or you make changes to your drawing after refreshing, the software prompts you to save the drawing on closing.

  • You can move and reposition any item or cable by selecting and dragging the item to its new position.

  • If you delete any of the items that have been placed on a drawing, this item will no longer appear on the drawings.