Quick Link: Watch the Pro/ENGINEER cabling and piping demo.
Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 cabling and piping design redefines the way that cables and pipes are designed, making the job easier and faster, and providing opportunities to substantially improve designs.
Previous versions of cabling and piping design were powerful but required a substantial amount of effort on the part of the user. Most commands were accessed through menus so you had to know the menu structure well enough to find commands that were sometimes three or four levels down.
You had to follow a specified sequence of tasks and switching between tasks required a stop-start workflow. For example, components had to be designated before cables could be routed. Thus, if you entered the route command without designating components, the routing task had to be stopped and a new task had to be started in order to complete the original.
The new user interface largely eliminates the need for menus, instead providing easily accessible toolbars with icons that put important tasks at your fingertips. The toolbars reduce mouse travel and menu searching, while improving usability and increasing productivity.
The new asynchronous piping and cabling environment makes it possible to switch from one operation to another and back without losing information or time. You can temporarily pause a routing command to designate additional components and then resume routing where you left off. Or, say you are routing a pipeline, you can now change the bend radii or change the bend to an elbow on-the-fly and dynamically see a preview of the change.
Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 cabling design’s new routing toolbar consolidates the core cabling features, reducing mouse travel and mouse clicks. The consolidated Route Cables dialog box serves as the main entry point for all major routing tasks: cable creation, selection and routing.
Creating a new harness has never been simpler. When you select the route command, if logical information exists the software will automatically check whether components have been designated. If so, the software will pause the routing tool and prompt you to designate the components. When designation is complete, the routing tool automatically resumes, allowing you to continue with routing.
Undesignated components can be designated on-the-fly
If there is no logical information, you can go straight to the Route Cable Dialog and create new cables on-the-fly. Within the same Dialog you can specify the connectivity points. If a selected component has not been designated, the software will temporarily pause the route command and allow you to designate the selected component.
You can direct the software to automatically route the cable via the shortest path. As new cables are added to the list, the dynamic preview updates to provide consistent feedback. Once all cables have been defined, you can choose whether to commit to the simple route or pause the route tool and define a network for the cables to follow.
When defining a network, you will be presented with a new network dashboard to speed network creation and modification. The dashboard, which is consistent throughout Pro/ENGINEER, makes it easy to add and delete new segments, modify placement references and change the style of segments and location points.
When you are happy with the network, you can close the network dashboard and the software will automatically resume the route tool and route all the cables via the newly defined network. The dynamic preview will be updated and if the routing is acceptable the routing command can be closed.
The Follow Cable option allows you to quickly utilize portions of the existing cable to route others. You simply enter the cable or cables to be routed and then selects the route path start and end locations on an existing cable. The software provides preview capabilities and automatically selects intermediate points. There are also new tools that simplify the task of rerouting cables and network routes.
Follow Cable allows you to specify start & end points, and Simple Route allows you to auto-connect via the shortest path
The model tree has also been improved by displaying intuitive cable names and providing icons that make it easy to distinguish between cables, networks, locations, segments, etc.
The new model tree is easier to navigate
Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 piping design also replaces the need to access menus with much more intuitive and flexible toolbars. The piping toolbar provides access to core piping functionality, the routing toolbar delivers routing capabilities, and the fabrication toolbar provides easy access to create and delete insulation, cuts, welds and spools.
The piping design interface gives fast access to key commands. You can quickly insert, delete, replace and redesign pipe fittings. When connecting pipelines, the new user interface leverages drag handles, object action workflow and dynamic visual feedback to streamline the design process.
New user interface for connecting pipelines - with drag handles (bottom left) and visual feedback (bottom right)
The asynchronous piping environment makes it possible to change the pipe shape, bend radius, or corner type on the fly without having to cancel the current operation. The ability to pause and resume interaction enables on-the-fly response to visual feedback and design insights.
In summary, Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 cabling and piping design provides the ability to perform on-screen manipulation, automate the routing process and leverage connection logic and existing route definitions. The resulting simplified workflow speeds routing and design to deliver substantial improvements in productivity, leading to more manufacturable and easier to maintain designs.
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