Autodesk AUTOCAD ELECTRICAL

Get wired.

AutoCAD®

Electrical

To succeed in today’s global marketplace, electrical controls

designers can no longer aord to rely on generic software

applications to get the job done. AutoCAD Electrical oers

control engineers a competitive edge by helping save hours of

eort, so they can spend more time innovating.

The AutoCAD Electrical Advantage

AutoCAD®Electrical is AutoCAD®software for

controls designers, purpose-built to create and

modify electrical control systems. It contains all the

functionality of AutoCAD, the world’s leading CAD

software, plus a comprehensive set of electrical-

speciﬁc features and functions that oer signiﬁcant

productivity gains.

Contents

Error Checking and Prevention..................3

Standards-Based Drafting

and Component Libraries...........................4

Design and Drafting

Productivity Tools .........................................5

Schematic Design Tools ............................. 8

Panel Layout Tools ..................................... 10

Programmable Logic Controller Tools.....11

Comprehensive Terminal

Management.................................................12

Collaboration and Interoperability ......... 13

Data Management

and Reporting Tools ...................................14

Data Migration Tools.................................. 15

Learn More or Purchase ............................16

Feature AutoCAD®AutoCAD®Electrical

Full AutoCAD Functionality • •

Familiar AutoCAD Interface • •

Powerful Drafting Tools • •

DWG™Compatibility • •

Comprehensive Symbol Libraries •

Electrical-Speciﬁc Drafting Features •

Real-time Error Checking •

Schematic Design Tools •

Panel Layout Tools •

Terminal Management Tools •

PLC I/O Tools •

Automatic BOM Generation •

Autodesk®Inventor®Associativity •

AutoCAD Electrical helps you stay ahead of the

competition by automating control engineering

tasks, such as building circuits, numbering wires,

and creating bills of material. AutoCAD Electrical

provides a library of more than 650,000 electrical

symbols and components, includes real-time error

checking, and enables electrical and mechanical

teams to collaborate on digital prototypes built

with Autodesk®Inventor®software. As part of the

Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping, AutoCAD

Electrical helps manufacturers get their products to

market faster with lower costs.

Error Checking and Prevention

AutoCAD®Electrical software includes automatic error-

checking capabilities that help designers perform real-time

diagnostics to catch problems before the build phase of a

project.

Automatic Wire Numbering and

Component Tagging

Spending long hours manually assigning wire

numbers and component tags is a thing of the past,

as are the potential errors inherent in that process.

AutoCAD Electrical drafting software automatically

places sequential or reference-based numbers on

all wires and components, based on the conﬁgura-

tion you choose. Reference-based numbers and tags

automatically get a sux when necessary so that

names are unique and the software can renumber

the entities as the design requirements change. This

numbering convention is ﬂexible enough to meet

nearly any design requirement.

In addition, if AutoCAD Electrical determines that

an inserted wire number will “bump into” some-

thing, it automatically searches laterally along the

wire for a clear spot to place the wire number. If

that fails, it searches for a clear spot away from the

wire. When it ﬁnds one, it places the number and

automatically draws a leader back to the wire.

Real-Time Error Checking

Avoid costly errors at build time

by catching and removing errors

during design. AutoCAD Electri-

cal drafting software constantly

compares the requested changes

with the current project and

alerts you to potential errors

such as duplicated wire numbers

or component tags as they occur.

Real-Time Coil and Contact Cross-Referencing

Signiﬁcantly reduce the risk of costly mistakes as-

sociated with assigning too many contacts to a relay.

AutoCAD Electrical sets up a parent/child relation-

ship between the two and keeps track of how many

contacts are assigned to any given coil or multi-

contact device. When you exceed the limit, you get

an alert.

Another beneﬁt of this feature is the ability to assign

the next available set of terminal pin numbers to each

inserted “child” contact, based on the pin list proper-

ties of the parent coil. Display cross-referencing

information in almost any format on the drawings,

and run cross-referencing reports at any time.

Electrical Audit Report

Missing or incorrect wire numbers can cause major

headaches. Use the audit report function to analyze

and report such design anomalies so you can correct

them before they reach manufacturing.

Standards-Based Drafting and Component Libraries

AutoCAD Electrical supports international standards and

provides comprehensive libraries of manufacturer content

and symbols, enabling users to easily create standards-based

designs that comply with industry requirements.

Extensive Manufacturers’

Catalog Content

Use real manufacturers’ catalog data to streamline

the design process. AutoCAD Electrical comes with a

manufacturers’ catalog database that contains more

than 650,000 components and symbols from the

industry’s most popular vendors. These components

provide a full spectrum of input and output (I/O)

devices, including switches, sensors, lights, and

numerous panel devices, such as wireway and panel

enclosures.

Electrical Component Libraries

Easily select commonly used devices to quickly

create electrical control systems designs. AutoCAD

Electrical provides a simple menu-driven system

for inserting electrical devices. Each menu provides

access to a comprehensive symbol library that in-

cludes push buttons, selector switches, pilot lights,

relays, contacts, fuses, terminals, and more.

Support for Multiple Design Standards

Meet your customers’ design requirements with

support for the JIC, IEC, JIS, and GB international

standards. Select symbol libraries, cross-reference

settings, wire and device tagging conventions, and

much more to meet geographic design require-

ments.

User-Deﬁned Attributes

Add custom attributes to AutoCAD Electrical sym-

bols and have their contents available in any project

reports. Easily communicate company-speciﬁc design

data by using newly deﬁned metadata to extract

information for standard reports.

Symbol Builder

Guide and manage the creation and conversion of

AutoCAD®blocks into intelligent AutoCAD Electri-

cal symbols. Built on top of the AutoCAD Block

Editor, the Symbol Builder helps create electrical

symbols and black boxes that conform to the Auto-

CAD Electrical architecture.

Multidiscipline Symbol Libraries

Quickly generate accurate pneumatic, hydraulic,

and piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID)

schematics. The comprehensive symbol libraries

include devices such as valves, operators, manifolds,

meters, regulators, ﬁlters, and more.

Design and Drafting Productivity Tools

AutoCAD Electrical software oers controls designers

immediate productivity gains with a complete set of specialized

features and tools developed speciﬁcally for the creation of

accurate, industry-standard electrical control systems.

Streamlined Design Environment

AutoCAD Electrical features a streamlined user

interface. Find your favorite tools and commands

faster, locate lesser-used tools more eciently, and

discover relevant new features more easily. The result

is less time searching through menus and toolbars,

and more time getting your work done.

Circuit Builder

Reduce design time and increase drafting eciency

by automating the creation of controls circuits.

Dynamically generate rules-based controls circuits

based on deﬁning functional requirements, such as

components, wiring, ratings, and catalog data.

The Circuit Builder tool gives you the necessary infor-

mation to help you make sound engineering decisions

that are also environmentally “green.” For example,

the conductor size that meets the minimum code

requirements may be the least expensive to purchase,

but it may not provide the best long-term energy and

cost savings.

Circuit Builder provides

dynamic display of worst-

case energy loss costs

for a range of conductor

sizes against various

installation and ambient

factors. Suggested wire

conductor sizing can be

automatically calculated

based upon an electrical

code requirement.

Make better design decisions based on de-rating fac-

tors such as wire material type, insulation tempera-

ture rating, ambient temperature, run length, power

conductor bundling and maximum allowable voltage

drop. Circuit Builder can also suggest fuse, breaker,

and disconnect ratings based upon motor or power

feed load.

Reuse Circuits

Slash design time by reusing common circuits.

AutoCAD Electrical gives users the ability to build

commonly used circuits once and then save them for

reuse in future designs. When you place a saved cir-

cuit into a new design, AutoCAD Electrical automati-

cally renumbers the wires and devices in the circuit

to match the conﬁguration of the current drawing or

project.

One-Line Diagrams for Motor Control

Quickly create and edit one-line circuit representa-

tions that can then help drive accurate annotation of

three-line schematic circuit equivalents.

Building on the popular Circuit Builder tool for

three-phase motor control, AutoCAD Electrical now

enables you to interactively create one-line motor cir-

cuit and power feed representations. One-line circuit

representations can help drive three-line schematic

circuit generation and vice versa.

Multiple Drawing Interface Aware

Simultaneously view and edit multiple drawings at

once. AutoCAD Electrical fully supports the multiple

document interface (MDI) standard, allowing you to

have multiple drawings open at one time. Now you

can cut and paste design information between two

open drawings without having to close one of them.

Multiple Wire Insert

By enabling designers to insert multiple wires with a

single command, AutoCAD Electrical automates the

process of connecting devices with several connec-

tion points. And, faster design helps ensure that your

projects stay within budget—and on time.

New Drawing Command

With a single click of a button, you can begin a new

drawing and know that AutoCAD Electrical is fully

aware of the current project settings. After you

choose a template with the appropriate title block

and drawing border, the new drawing automatically

becomes part of the active project and you are ready

to start inserting devices.

Swap Block Utility

Save hours of rework by quickly replacing each

instance of a symbol throughout a project. Swap

instances of a block or an individual symbol wherever

it is used in a project. You can even swap symbols for

an entire project between two symbol libraries. For

example, if you need to change the standard used in a

project, just run this command to automatically swap

each JIC device out with its IEC equivalent.

Retagging Components

Reduce design time and help eliminate errors by

retagging all components in a project with a single

command. This single command enables users to

change the format of component tags during a proj-

ect to accommodate customer changes on the ﬂy.

Design and Drafting Productivity Tools

Fixed Wire Numbers and Component Tags

AutoCAD Electrical enables you to easily accom-

modate design modiﬁcations late in the cycle

without aecting previous work. When you change

the status of wire numbers and component tags to

a “ﬁxed” format, they remain unaected during a

project-wide renumbering of wires or retagging of

components. If changes are required after the shop

ﬂoor has the designs, you can easily add new wire

numbers and device components without aecting

the existing wire numbers.

Wire Label Export for Electrical Design

Slash the time it takes to create an accurate set of

wire labels for a project. With the Wire Label Export

command, you can rapidly extract wire numbers

from an entire project and print the required labels

for each wire.

Toggle Normally Open/Normally Closed

With a single mouse-click, switch the state of a device

from normally open to normally closed and vice ver-

sa. If that device is part of a parent/child relationship,

such as a relay coil and contact, AutoCAD Electrical

automatically updates the corresponding device.

Drawing Navigation Features for Control

Designers

Quickly navigate through drawings within a project.

Use the previous/next buttons to each drawing in the

project without having to open individual ﬁles.

Device Navigation

Don’t waste any more of your valuable time manag-

ing device relationships. With AutoCAD Electrical

you can easily view and navigate relationships

between devices using the Surfer command. Simply

click a component in the panel layout drawing

and quickly “surf” to the corresponding schematic

device. This command works across multiple draw-

ings in a project and also works on devices with a

parent/child relationship, auxiliary contacts, and

item numbers.

Open and Flexible API

Create simpliﬁed custom front-end interfaces or au-

tomated workﬂows using an open architecture that

integrates with existing business and engineer¬ing

systems. Use the ﬂexible and open API (applica-tion

programming interface) in AutoCAD Electrical to

extend its power and functionality to meet speciﬁc

design and drafting needs. This built-in API consists

of nearly 200 programming entry points into the

software, so users can easily integrate AutoCAD

Electrical with their existing business and engineer-

ing systems.

Schematic Design Tools

Create and modify electrical control schematics more accurately

and in fraction of the time it takes with AutoCAD®.

Electrical-Speciﬁc Drafting

Commands

Save hours of design time using spe-

cialized drafting features in AutoCAD

Electrical developed speciﬁcally for

designing control systems. Quickly

trim wires, copy and delete com-

ponents or circuits, and scoot and

align components for easier drawing

creation.

Ladders and Reference Line Numbers

Use the ﬂexible ladder insertion functionality in

AutoCAD Electrical to quickly place ladders into

a drawing, minimizing the redundancy of creat-

ing control drawings. Place ladders horizontally or

vertically while maintaining complete control over

all ladder characteristics, including rung spacing,

number of rungs, and ladder width. Reduce tedious

manual processes with automatic placement of

reference line numbers based on a predeﬁned

conﬁguration.

Automatic Wire Gaps

Eortlessly create easy-to-read schematics. When-

ever two wires cross in an electrical design, AutoCAD

Electrical automatically indicates which wire passes

through. You can choose from wire gaps, loops, or

solid wires to show crossing wires.

Visual Wiring Sequence Indicators

Eciently communicate design intent to manufac-

turing and avoid wiring errors by graphically indicat-

ing the proper wiring sequence of a circuit directly

on the schematic. . When you make changes to a

wire sequence, the updated information is automati-

cally accurately reﬂected in the from/to wire list

report.

Revise Ladder

With AutoCAD Electrical you don’t have to start from

scratch when you need to modify a ladder in your

design. Use the Revise Ladder command to modify

ladders already inserted into drawings. Without

deleting and starting over again, you can modify

most aspects of the ladder, including rung spacing

and number of rungs, as well as starting and ending

reference numbers. This single command saves hours

of manual editing and helps ensure that your time is

spent on high-value work.

Insert Rungs

Being able to quickly insert rungs into an existing lad-

der greatly speeds up the drafting of electrical con-

trol schematics. Simply click anywhere inside a ladder

to insert a new rung complete with wire connection

dots and automatically align it with the correspond-

ing wire numbers.

Three-Phase Motor Control

Save time and increase productivity when creating

three-phase motor circuits. Quickly design motor

circuits using intelligent, built-in symbol libraries that

include three-pole breakers, switches, motor contac-

tors, and more. When you insert them, these symbols

adapt to the underlying three-phase rung spacing

automatically.

Connector Generator

Quickly generate connectors by providing minimal

information, such as the number of pins and orienta-

tion. The resulting connector is ready to be wired into

a design. With AutoCAD Electrical, you’ll be able to

generate accurate point-to-point style designs in a

fraction of the time it takes with traditional AutoCAD

software.

Source and Destination Markers

Quickly track wires from page to page within a proj-

ect. When a wire starts on one drawing and continues

onto another, you can connect them electronically

using the source and destination signals.

Cable and Conductor Tracking

Easily manage cable and conductor usage in Au-

toCAD Electrical projects with automatic tracking

capabilities. Designate individual wires as belonging

to a cable, and then generate reports based on cable

usage for fabrication purposes. Similar to inserting

components, when you assign manufacturer part

number information to cables, AutoCAD Electrical

automatically tracks and reports conductor usage

based on that part number.

Project Interface

Easily manage and navigate the many individual

DWG™ ﬁles that make up an electrical control sys-

tems project with the AutoCAD Electrical project

interface. The intuitive ﬁle management features

in AutoCAD Electrical let you spend more time

designing and less time organizing ﬁles.

Schematic Design Tools

Panel Layout Tools

Quickly and easily create panel layout drawings with

intelligent updating to reduce errors.

Create Smart Panel Layout Drawings

from Electrical Schematics

Using AutoCAD®Electrical to create panel layout

drawings gives you a systematic means of checking

that no devices are missed and makes an electronic

link between the representation of the device in the

schematic and panel drawings.

Here’s how it works: Once you have created an elec-

trical schematic, the software extracts a list of sche-

matic components for placement in the panel layout

drawings. You simply choose a device from the list

and drag it into place. The physical “footprint” rep-

resentation of each schematic device is inserted into

the layout at the point you select. Then the software

creates an electronic link between the schematic and

panel device representations. So when you change

key data on one drawing, you get a prompt for

permission to update the other. Even non-schematic

items like wire duct and mounting hardware can be

added to the layout and automatically combined to

create a “smart” panel bill of materials (BOM) report.

Starting Designs with a Panel Layout Drawing

AutoCAD Electrical provides a ﬂexible design envi-

ronment that works the way you want to work. You

can start designs by creating a panel layout drawing

and using it to drive the creation of the correspond-

ing logical control schematics. This feature gives you

the boost you need for tight turnaround times and

supports the needs of individual designers.

Location Boxes and Markers

Quickly and easily associate groups of devices with

a speciﬁc panel location using the Location Box

command. Apply location markers on the schematic

that represent the corresponding panel location. This

capability makes it easy to identify locations for a

device or group of devices, resulting in more accurate

panel layouts.

Insert Balloons on Panel Devices

Save time by automatically annotating control panel

drawings with intelligent item balloons that coincide

with the panel BOM.

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