Why use Electro-technical CAD-systems

- and not AutoCAD for Electro-technical documentation?

In electro-technical departments there has been some confusion about when to use constructional
CAD-systems, and when to use electro-technical CAD-systems. This article focuses on the pros
and cons of using the two types of CAD-systems for electro-technical purposes

When you want to drill a hole in a wall,

you use a wall drill. When you want to
drill a hole in a board, you use a wood
bit. If you use the wood bit for the wall,
or the wall drill for the board, you can
still do the job, but you will have to
spend extra time doing it - and, well, the
result might just not be as good as you
expected.
When comparing electro-technical and
constructional CAD programs, you can
pretty much use the same metaphor.

pages etc.
Furthermore, the basic workflow in the
program is designed for construction
purposes. Adding extra electrotechnical functions on top of the
construction core, therefore gives a
more time-consuming workflow. - Just
like adding constructional functions to
an electro-technical CAD-program
would give a mediocre result.

forth between the persons involved including the misunderstandings this

might bring.
Investing in a program which enables
the electro-technical department to
create the documentation right away on
their own terms, will therefore pay-off
quite quickly.

The powers of AutoCAD

AutoCAD is the most used construction
CAD program worldwide - and for good
reason. It is a brilliant tool for
construction drawings, with loads of intelligent functions for shaping, changing
diameters, viewing details from various
perspectives, exploding drawings etc.
When this is what you need, AutoCAD
is the right program for you. This is what
AutoCAD is designed for basically, this
is the very core of the program.
Using AutoCAD for electrotechnical documentation
But is it also possible to create electrotechnical documentation in AutoCAD?
Yes, you can do it, but it is not what the
program is designed for.
You can design electro-technical
symbols, but you cannot add the
necessary intelligence to them; you can
draw ordering lists, but you cannot have
them filled out automatically; you can
write texts, but you cannot have them
translated automatically; you can place
relay coils and contactors, but you
cannot have the references between
them updated automatically; you can
move symbols/blocks, but you cannot
have their reference designations
updated automatically and the
connected lines can not be moved
automatically; you can draw all the diagrams you need, but you cannot have
the diagrams gathered in the same file
with automatic references between the

Among the electro-technical facilities you find intelligent copying of areas,

automatic line drawing (router), reference designations in areas, automatic
references between symbols, display of electrical connections on mechanical
pages and automatic generation of graphical cable and terminal plans

Electro-technical personnel not

trained in AutoCAD
Employees in the electro-technical
departments are seldom experienced
AutoCAD users. Using AutoCAD for
electro-technical documentation
therefore requires an extra person to
create the documentation based on
sketches from the electro-technical
department.
This involves communication back and

The powers of Electro-technical

CAD-programs
When you are producing the electrotechnical documentation, you need
distinctly other types of intelligent
functions.
You need functions such as: Automatic
updating of parts lists and connection
lists, automatic wire numbering, support
of electro-technical standards, intelligent copying of areas with automatic

Functions in electro-technical CAD-programs:

Parts lists and connection lists are updated automatically, and can be exported to e.g. Excel
Connecting electrical lines are moved with the symbols
Supports electro-technical standards (IEC/EN)
References between symbols are updated on-line
Places and updates wire numbers automatically
Handles reference designations intelligently on
project, page, area and symbol level
Generates graphical cable and terminal plans
automatically
Communicates with PLC I/O tools (Export/Import) and
editing of PLC data via e.g. Excel
Creates and sends order files automatically
Copies areas intelligently
Supports mounting correct drawing
Signal references between pages
Router draws connection lines automatically
Copies in and between projects easily
Automatic generation of diagram pages
Templates for pages and electro-technical projects
renumbering and automatic drawing of
connecting lines, support of mounting
correct drawing, signal references
between pages, intelligent support of
reference designations, automatic
drawing of connection lines, easy
copying in and between projects,
references between symbols, automatic
creation of reference crosses or contact
mirrors with direct access to available
symbols for the functions in the
component, automatically generated
and updated graphical cable and terminal plans, automatic documentation of
the applied symbols, communication
with plc i/o tools, changing of PLC data
via Excel, automatic generation of diagram pages, the ability to create and
send ordering files automatically, support to fulfill IEC/EN standards and
much more.
If you do business in other countries,
you also need automatic translation of
texts in drawings, and the ability to
specify which types of texts to translate.
Component databases - one of
the major time-savers
In an electro-technical CAD program
the symbols on the diagrams can be intelligent. This means that they can
contain an article number for the
component they represent - and most
important of it all: the electrical
connection points of the components
can be identified. Being able to attach

this type of information to a component,

enables the program to update
production and ordering lists for the
documentation automatically.
This is for instance the case in the
electro-technical CAD-program PCschematic ELautomation, which also

contains all of the facilities mentioned

above.
Along with this program, you also get a
CD containing over 14.000 article
numbers from 20 component vendors.
This opens up for a quite extraordinary
workflow:
When you select a component from one
of these databases, you get a symbol
pickmenu containing the electrical
symbols for this component. When you
place these symbols in the diagrams,
article data are automatically transferred to the diagrams. Therefore the program can fill out all kinds of lists
automatically, without you having to type
in any component information at all.
When you copy these symbols in the
diagrams, the copied symbols still carry
the same article data as the originals.
This is a true time-saver in the daily
work.
Combining the powers of the
two types of systems
But why not use the powers of both
AutoCAD and an electro-technical program at the same time?
If you normally create ground plan
drawings in AutoCAD, well, you can
just keep on doing so. Having
completed the ground plan in
AutoCAD, just insert it in the electro-

When you click on a component in one of the 20 component vendor databases,

you automatically get a menu containing the electrical symbols for the
component. Placing these symbols on the diagrams you also transfer information to the diagrams which enables PCschematic to fill out order lists or files
automatically

technical program as a so-called OLE

object.
In the electro-technical program PCschematic ELautomation, you can then draw
the electrical drawings on top of the
AutoCAD file. The electrical information is then stored in PCschematic.
When you need to make changes in the
ground plan, you can then open it in
AutoCAD directly from PCschematic.
You can then change the ground plan
as you normally do in AutoCAD. When
you have completed the changes, you
return the normal working mode of
PCschematic, and add more electrical
information to your PCschematic
drawing - on top of the AutoCAD
drawing.
Working this way, it is even possible to
create an AutoCAD ground plan directly
from PCschematic, and keep it as an
AutoCAD document inside the
PCschematic document.
However, to have a workflow like this,
requires the installation of both
AutoCAD and PCschematic.
Importing AutoCAD files
If you do not wish to purchase an
AutoCAD license, you can make the
two programs communicate in another
way. A typical workflow could here be
that the architect constructs a ground
plan drawing in AutoCAD, and exports
the necessary information as a DWG or
a DXF file to electro-technical
department, which uses PCschematic.
They load the file, and add the electrotechnical documentation to the ground
plan. In this process they can use all
the specially designed functions of the

electro-technical program.
Having added the electrical information,
the electro-technical drawings are
exported back to AutoCAD in DXF/
DWG format, so that the architect gets
back the information he needs. This is a
quite typical workflow in PCschematic.
Apart from this, it is worth mentioning
that creating ground plan drawings
actually is quite simple in PCschematic
on a draft or tender material level - but
you probably shouldnt build a house
from it.
Intelligent import of AutoCAD
files
If you have an already existing electrotechnical documentation as AutoCAD
files, there is furthermore created a
special tool for converting these.
This tool makes it possible to convert
DWG/DXF files from other electrotechnical applications, so that blocks in
the DWG/DXF file are translated to intelligent symbols in the created
PCscheamtic project. This causes
references between the symbols to be
created automatically. Furthermore, the
applied text-attributes are attached to
the symbols as e.g. symbolname,
symboltype and connection names in
the project.
It is this intelligent attaching of data to
the symbols, which makes automatic
updating of all types of lists possible in
the program.

important to consider how often you

create electro-technical documentation.
If you only need to draw a circuit diagram once a month, including a parts
list with only 38 components, you could
still do with AutoCAD.
If these are your only needs, there is no
reason to invest money in an advanced
electro-technical program.
Free program for smaller
documentation assignments
As an alternative, you can actually get
a free PCschematic demo program,
which contains most of the advanced
functions, but only allows you to save
projects containing 40 symbols. Along
with the demo you get the full program
manual on the CD - ready for printing.
A third option could be the Mini version of PCschematic, which is quite
inexpensive, contains all of the
advanced features in the program, and
allows you to save projects containing
up to 150 symbols.
Analyze your needs
Having said all this, the most important
factor still remains: That you analyze
what you really need, and how much
time you spend creating electrotechnical documentation in what just
might be an unsuitable program for the
assignment. It is always a good idea to
check out the market, and compare the
electro-technical facilities of the various
CAD programs.

When to use AutoCAD for

Electro-technical documentation
However, before rushing off to purchase
an electro-technical CAD-program, it is

DWG/DXF converting service

DpS CAD-center offers a converting service,
which converts DWG/DXF files from other electrotechnical programs to the PCschematic format.
Please contact us for futher information.

CAD-center ApS

DpS CAD-center ApS, Bygaden 7, DK-4040 Jyllinge, +45 4678 8244, www.pcschematic.com