Release 2023 of Zuken’s electrical CAD system E3.series contains important enhancements in the applications for control cabinet design and cable planning. Ergonomics in operation has been further improved by extended access and modification options to database information directly in the drawing.
Zuken introduces the new 2023 release of its popular ECAD/fluid design system E3.series, which is used by more than 4,500 customers and 50,000 users worldwide in mechanical and plant engineering, power distribution, automotive and transportation, and aerospace and defense sectors. E3.series is subject to continuous development in a dialog with customers so that it is always aligned with the latest user requirements in terms of usability and functionality.
With release 2023, the 3D functionality in the E3.series applications for control cabinet design (E3.panel) and cable harness design (E3.formboard) has been extended with significant new features. In addition, daily operations for creating and updating circuit diagrams and wiring harnesses with the central E3.series applications E3.schematic and E3.cable received a number of enhancements to reduce the number of individual operations and make work more intuitive.
E3.3DTransformer: Import of 3D geometries from mechanical CAD systems in a single operation.
Extended access and modification options within the drawing view
The enhancements to the 3D functionality in E3.series’ control cabinet design applications meet the need for designing control cabinets in increasingly limited spaces. Elements such as mounting panels can now be arranged and edited at any angle.
The 2D view of elements of the control cabinet layout, commonly used to simplify detailed work, has been enhanced with the ability to create multiple directly linked 2D views. The benefit is that changes to the view best suited for the task are updated in real-time on all the 2D views (e.g., the rear panel), eliminating manual synchronization requirements.
With an enhancement of cross-section checks for stop parts and component connection points, users can now automate the correct stop part selection from a group of parts provided by a chosen manufacturer. This automation feature significantly reduces overhead related to defining database parts.
Wire Harness Design
3D enhancements in E3.series, E3.3DTransformer, and E3.formboard allow the import of 3D geometries from mechanical CAD systems in a single operation. 3D geometric cable routes from industry-standard MCAD tools are converted into the 2D views required to create manufacturing documents for harness assembly.
Designers can supplement these views in E3.formboard with the necessary electrical information, such as connector pins and assignments, conduit protection elements, and dimensioning.
Users can also directly import harness description formats into E3.series such as Harness XML files, KBL files, and PLMXML files.
Ease of use
E3.series 2023 improves the user experience with extended access and modification options for device properties, dimensions, and part attributes. Information, which previously needed to be changed in separate properties windows, can now be accessed and updated directly on the device using the right mouse button. Additional checks eliminate unwanted overwriting and maintain consistency.
The international version of E3.series Release 2023 in English and German is available now, the multi-lingual version with automatic conversion between 12 languages will ship in late September.