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ECAD Plus is a CAD software package designed for the development of electromechanical schematic drawings such as wire harnesses and control diagrams. The package can run on any IBM PC AT 386 and 486 or compatible.ECAD Plus is an integrated package: it can be used to draw electromechanical schematics, to develop new symbols or to modify existing ones, and to produce all the design documentation including: Part list, Cable list and Connection list. ECAD Plus can handle multi-sheet projects where every sheet may have different sizes and styles.Powerful commands make the drawing phase easier. These include automatic connection between components (autorouter), automatic component alignment, block copy and block move with drag of connections, automatic wire numbering, automatic compilation of the cross reference table between coils and contacts.The format of the design documentation can be customized according to the user's needs, using a format description language: EFORM. The drawings can be rotated or scaled before output on printer or plotter.
Screen Shot from ECAD Plus for Windows
Main Features of ECAD Plus for Windows
- Easy, consistent way to design and document wire harnesses
- Comes complete with IEC library of components
- Library editor included for user defined parts
- Automatic generation of complete documentation sets
- Automatic recompiling of cables and pin diagrams after edits and changes
- More cost effective than using a standard drawing tool such as AutoCAD
- Automatic translation into various languages
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Open Project
When starting a new project, the user selects the templates that are to be used in the project, such as ladder diagrams for the component layout, and cross reference sheets that document the pin connections and the wire numbers. These base sheets are included in the software, and can be modified for the user's specific requirements
The Project menu displays the necessary commands for creating and managing projects, as well as the commands for executing automatic processes and utility programs.
Below is a list of menus available when creating a new project:
| Open... |
Open and read a project |
| Edit... |
Display and modify a project, listing all the drawings that it contains, subdivided into groups |
| Close |
Close an open project. |
| New Project |
Create a new project. |
| Get Sheet |
Load one of the drawings belonging to an active project |
| + Next Sheet |
Move from the current sheet in a project to the next one |
| - Previous Sheet |
Move from the current sheet in a project to the previous one |
| Technical Info |
Create and modify a project’s technical information card |
| Sheets Function |
Used to enter a function for each sheet belonging to a project |
| Cable List |
Display and modify the cables that are present in an active project |
| Components |
Menu contains the commands for managing complex components in a drawing or project |
| Process |
Numbering wires, compiling tables, numbering rows and columns, compiling lists of packages and "signal" symbols, reorganizing positioned cables and creating symbols legends |
| Clear |
Clear wires numbers, tables, etc |
| Lists |
Commands to create Partlists, Wirelists, Strip Lists a Cables - ECAD Internal Database. |
| Utilities |
Utilities programs: Backup, Translate, Components renumbering, Symbols Attributes, Check. |
Project Design and Entry
Using the library of components, the electromechanical diagram is entered, as shown in the screen shot at the top of this page. The design can consist of multiple pages of information, and in a variety of formats such as different sheet sizes, etc.
Design Processing
One of the major benefits of the ECAD Plus for Windows product is that it can quickly process and document the design, automatically creating a complete set of design information. Changes and updates to the design and documentation are processed quickly and effortlessly, at the command of the user.
Automatic processing capabilities include:
- Wire Numbering
- Rows and columns organization
- Cable organization
- Coils Table Generation
- Module Symbol Processing
- Create the project's packages list
- Symbol Legends
Below is an example of a Part listing with full documentation of sheet number, location, and connections lists.This information was automatically generated.
The next picture is an example of a terminal block and wire connection diagram:
The diagrams can be automatically translated into different languages to accommodate products that must be serviced around the world:
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