AutoCAD Electrical 2009 - Whats New!

Circuit Builder

Motor Control Circuit

The Circuit Builder feature comes with many predefined motor control circuits. Any of these circuits can be inserted by picking from the list of motors and selecting the location on your drawing. AutoCAD Electrical builds the selected circuit dynamically, matching the rung spacing, adding wiring between components, and annotating the circuit based on motor horsepower and industry standards.

Custom Motor Control Circuit

Inserting a custom motor control circuit can now be as easy as a few mouse clicks. Select the options to define the circuit, such as breaker type, control circuitry, and motor horsepower.

Select where to place the circuit and AutoCAD Electrical builds it, matching the rung spacing, adding wiring between components, and annotating the circuit based on motor horsepower and industry standards.

The next time you want to insert this same circuit, select it from the saved history and place it on the drawing.

Customizable

You can customize the Circuit Builder feature to build just about any circuit you need. The feature is driven by a spreadsheet and drawing templates. The spreadsheet defines the available options for the circuit and the defaults for each option. The template defines the placement for the individual components and the wiring.

Terminal Strip Editor

Jumper Support

The Terminal Strip Editor now supports inserting, editing, and deleting jumpers. To add a jumper, select the terminals, or levels within a multi-level terminal, and select the Assign Jumper tool. You can add a catalog to the jumper so it is included in a Bill of Materials report. Jumpers are displayed graphically making it easy to see which terminals are jumpered together.

Internal Jumpers

Multi-level terminals can come with some or all levels jumpered together. You can now define these internal jumpers as part of the catalog data of the terminal. The levels are jumpered automatically when the catalog is assigned. You can also define internal jumpers directly in the block properties of the terminal. These internal jumpers do not receive a catalog assignment separate from the terminal.

Jumper Chart

Insert a jumper chart table to display graphically all jumpered terminals. You have the option to show all terminals in the chart or just the terminals that are jumpered. You also can set the minimum number of circle columns to display in the chart. The jumper chart is updated automatically each time you update the graphical layout of the terminal strip.

Multiple Table Sections

You can now split the terminal strip table into multiple sections. The sections can be placed on one drawing or on multiple drawings. Define the number of rows per section, number of sections per drawing, placement, offset distance, and offset direction. When you update the terminal strip, table sections are added or removed as needed based on any changes made to the terminal strip.

Preview Table Object

You can preview how the terminal strip tables will look on your drawings at any time while defining the table settings. The preview includes the current settings for scale, angle, all settings for splitting the table into sections, and your drawing template.

Wire Numbering Option

With the introduction of jumper support within the Terminal Strip Editor, some changes you make can affect current wire numbers. If you make jumper changes during the Terminal Strip Editor session, you have an option to run wire numbering once the terminal updates complete.

Symbol Builder

Block Editor Environment

The Symbol Builder now takes advantage of the block editor environment. All the block editor features are available along with AutoCAD Electrical dialog boxes. It is easy to adjust the graphics of the component and add the necessary attributes for a specific type of AutoCAD Electrical component. Start with a template presupplied with attributes for the specific component type you want to create.

Create Parent Schematic

Use an attribute template for a schematic parent component to create a custom schematic parent component. All necessary attributes are immediately available for insertion along with any optional attributes. Drag them from the dialog box into your symbol.

Add the wire connection attributes along with the optional related terminal and terminal description attributes. If your symbol links to a child component, add the optional link line attributes.

When your symbol is ready, save it using the suggested symbol name following the AutoCAD Electrical naming standards, or enter your own symbol name. If your symbol name does not follow the naming standards, you are alerted along with any other issues with your symbol that can affect the use of the symbol.

Create Panel Footprint

Use an attribute template for a panel footprint to create a custom symbol. All necessary attributes are immediately available for insertion along with any optional attributes. Drag them from the dialog box into your symbol.

When your symbol is ready, save it using the suggested symbol name, or enter your own symbol name. Audit your symbol to see any potential issues with your symbol.

Spreadsheet to PLC/IO

New Drawing Support

You can now direct the Spreadsheet to PLC/IO utility to start a new drawing before generating the next module. Enter the keyword, NEW_DWG, in the CODE column of the spreadsheet at the point where you want a new drawing started. AutoCAD Electrical creates the new drawing prior to generating the next module in the spreadsheet.

PLC Module Annotation

You can now predefine other attributes on the module similar to the inline device fields. For example, you want the module to have a Rack value of "2", an Installation value of "MACH1", and a Rating2 value of "Hazardous Duty". In the spreadsheet, in the RACK column, enter "2;INST=MACH1;RATING2=HAZARDOUS DUTY". When this module is generated, these extra attribute values are assigned.

Miscellaneous

Productstream - Title Block Update

The project descriptions and component property values in Productstream can now be written back to AutoCAD Electrical drawings. These values can be assigned to the AutoCAD Electrical project description values. Project descriptions can be used in the AutoCAD Electrical title block update and the drawing list report. If the project descriptions are out of date when these features are used, you are prompted to import the Productstream values in to the project descriptions.

Item Numbering

You can now assign an item number on a per part basis. Each multiple catalog assignment can receive its own item number. Item numbers are tracked across the project so you can assign the same item number to the same catalog assignment. The Insert Balloon feature supports multiple balloons per component. Multiple balloons are inserted automatically if a component carries multiple item number assignments. When an item number is modified or removed, the item balloon is updated or deleted.

Surfing

The ability to surf on an item number has been added. Right-click on an item balloon and select surf, or type the item number in to the surf dialog box. You can also surf on an item number in a report table. Run the Surf command and click directly on the item number text in the report table.

Cross-Reference Table Style

The graphics used to represent each contact type in the table cross-reference style are now customizable. A graphic drawing (.dwg) file is assigned to a specific contact block file name through a new cross-reference mapping table in the catalog lookup database. Wild cards are allowed in the contact graphic mapping. The assigned graphic drawing file is inserted as a block in the table cell in the TYPE column.

3-Phase Wiring

Connecting the 3-phase wiring to the motor symbol is now automatic. When you insert your motor symbol and your 3-phase wiring is already present, place your symbol on or near the wires and the wires are angled and trimmed to meet the motor symbol.

Flip Component

When you use the Flip Component feature, if the symbol is connected to another symbol with dashed link lines, the dashed link lines are recalculated and reinserted, if necessary.

Close Active Project

You can now right-click on the active project and select Close. The active project is closed, removed from the list, and the project next in line becomes the active project.

Toggle Wire Number

Toggling a wire number from above or below the wire to an in-line wire number now keeps its original center point, rather than centering it on the wire.

Trim Wire

You can now use the dynamic pan and zoom while using the Trim Wire command. Start the command and select the Fence option. Select the first fence point and pan the drawing to select the next fence point. All wires are trimmed that cross the fence rather than just the wires on the screen.

Edit Wire Sequence

The Edit Wire Sequence command remains active until you choose to exit the command by not selecting a wire. This feature makes it more efficient to assign a wire sequence to multiple wire networks.

Cable Conductor Table

Adding a cable with many conductors is now made more efficient by the Ctrl+A hot key. Once you type in the conductor color, you can press Ctrl+A to add the conductor to the list.

COPYTAG for Terminals

Terminals now support the COPYTAG attribute. COPYTAG is the optional TAG copy attribute. When AutoCAD Electrical updates a TAGSTRIP attribute, it also looks for and updates any COPYTAG attributes present on the symbol with a copy of the TAGSTRIP text. A special replaceable parameter, "%T," can be encoded onto the prompt value of the COPYTAG attribute definition. This allows for adding a suffix and/or prefix to the TAGSTRIP text. If you need more than one extra TAGSTRIP copy on a symbol, name the attributes COPYTAG01, COPYTAG02, and so on.

Stand-alone Cross Reference

The DESC1 attribute is now supported on the stand-alone cross-reference symbols. You can add a value to this attribute in the Insert/Edit Stand-alone Signal/Destination dialog boxes. The description field is now an available field in the Stand-alone cross reference report.