Complete Electrical Systems Engineering with CATIA

The electrical systems engineering industry today faces numerous obstacles. The market is calling for more intelligent goods and fresh, creative solutions.

To stay up to date with emerging technology, products and services are becoming increasingly networked, autonomous, and complicated. This also involves new processes and stricter regulatory norms.

Changes in production methods and techniques have also led to the increase in demand for innovation and collaboration.

The increasing use of software, electronics, and electrical engineering in the production of the items is a direct result of these challenges and demands on the industry.

Consequently, the field of electrical engineering faces new difficulties like increased costs, more quality problems, and shorter time-to-market. The difficulty of integration with other engineering disciplines, such as mechanical, fluidic, and software, is further increased by this.

We believe that a solution capable of tackling the end-to-end electrical process, allowing for integration within a full development project, is the answer.

Challenges Facing the Industry: A Closer Look

What are the specific challenges?

To design and manage fluid and electrical systems, many traditional engineering businesses and departments utilise a wide range of specialised software programmes.

The manual exchange of data between these crucial process steps is inefficient because each one has its own database schema or uses file-based information storage.

Schematics, 3D design, and production do not have a strong enough connection. Therefore, electrical teams are important departments that go through engineering modifications last.

The first step in resolving these frequent problems is to create an extensive and integrated design workflow that allows all stakeholders to access a single source of truth.

A Single Source of Truth

By adopting a comprehensive workflow acting as a single source of truth, you could benefit from:

Early validation of requirements for system installation

Better manufacturing engineering due to early design optimization with integrated functional and physical mock-up

Improved model-based design validation

Increased cooperation between the following disciplines: manufacturing, 3D functional architecture, and MBSE

Systems architecture, 2D schematics, and 3D harness design which are all connected digitally

How to Tackle These Challenges with CATIA – Electrical Systems Engineering

In order to improve your electrical engineering processes, CATIA can aid you in overhauling and building upon your systems architecture and topology, schematics, 3D detailed designs, manufacturing processes and validations and governance.

Systems Architecture and Topology

It is possible to review system architectures, 3D mock-ups of architectures, equipment lists, and network diagrams very early in the design phase with CATIA.

This is accomplished by developing a collaborative architecture mock-up with defined equipment and interfaces, signals information, engineering rules, and system zones or packaging.

The objectives include providing a single reference for all engineering disciplines, optimising the design during the preliminary stages, and creating trade-off scenarios based on KPI and needs.

Schematics

With the CATIA electrical schematics 2D application, PLM and collaboration skills are available and are integrated into a comprehensive procedure that also uses 3D design and model-based systems engineering.

Using the application, you may make standardised wiring and network designs as well as benefitting from the ability to exchange data with the collaborative architecture design and system architecture.

The application can automatically create schematic diagrams by understanding information about the equipment and interface lists, signals, and connections, as well as runnings KPIs and automatic checks that direct you to deliver consistent deliverables.

The electrical Harness 3D-detailed design is also described in the schematics, providing digital traceability and continuity.

Harness 3D Detailed Design

Using CATIA’s powerful Wizard, you can benefit from a gap analysis between the 2D and 3D layers of your designs.

With the application you are able to update your 3D designs and make smarter decisions by cross-highlighting between the two definitions.

You may concentrate only on the intricate design, supporting positions, branch formation, wire routing, additional protections, and upgrading of the bundle shape because the equipment, connectors, and wires are all placed automatically.

High-quality designs are feasible thanks to engineering principles, which means that when you harness your 3D-detailed concepts, they are immediately used in the manufacturing process and drawing generation.

Manufacturing

The CATIA electrical harness design function includes harness manufacturing, allowing for full synchronization between the 3D design, flattening and drawing generations steps.

Each adjustment is taken into account by a specific assistant, allowing you to update both the drawings and the flattening view.

This guarantees seamless transition between schematics and 3D detailed designs without the need for any export/import modifications. The manufacturing programme also has fantastic capabilities that make it simple to flatten the electrical harness and analyse torsion in flattened branches when drawing automatically.

Validation and Governance

A set of applications permitting links between requirements management, embedded electronic architectures and behavior simulations are also available from CATIA.

You can use parameters, implementation linkages, drop voltage calculation, electrical simulations, and thermal simulations to accomplish validation and verification.

CATIA and 3DEXPERIENCE

Using seamless and integrated applications, CATIA – Electrical Systems Engineering is an end-to-end solution that covers the entire process from systems architecture to harness production.

Because the CATIA apps are a component of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, other programmes like SIMULIA can access the electrical data they handle to do EMC simulations.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a business platform; each developed object is a part of a collaborative environment which has a unique life cycle, may be modified, and is shared among communities.

Because it is the only platform that can be used as both a system of operations to run an organization’s business and a business model to transform it, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a game-changer for businesses.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables organisations to innovate, learn, produce, and trade in completely new ways by shattering conventional silos and providing flexible cooperation across disciplines.

Get in Touch

If you would like to find out more about how Complete Electrical Systems Engineering with CATIA and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform can aid you in ensuring you are at the forefront of your field, get in touch today – we would love to hear from you!