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06/01/2014
elecworks
Getting Started
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Start with elecworks
This document has been made to help you in starting elecworks. It summarizes
the features available. If you would like more information on the use of a control
or operation of a dialog box, please consult the online help by pressing the [F1]
key.
Launching elecworks
The projects manager can create, open and delete projects. Two lists of projects
are available:
• All projects: All projects accessible to the user and can be shared by
several users.
• Recent projects: Recent projects opened by the user.
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The application menus
The menu display differs depending on whether a project is opened or a folio is
opened.
Before opening a project, only four menus are available.
“File” menu
Open the projects manager, quit
elecworks.
The DWG group can manage dwg files
(or dxf) to make drawings outside of a
project.
“Library” menu
Management of libraries of symbols,
terminals, title blocks and macros.
Management of cable references and
manufacturer parts.
“Tools” menu
“Help” menu
Access to online documentation.
Access to your customer portal, for
example for downloading updates.
Access to Technical Support
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Projects
When you use elecworks for drawing a wiring diagram, remember that every
action causes a systematic action in the database.
Only the drawing made on a sheet is stored in the project database.
Sample Projects
At first, to familiarize yourself with the use of elecworks we recommend that you
open a sample project (Available in your customer portal).
Open the Projects Manager, and unarchive it.
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elecworks comes with two templates:
IEC: predefined option for projects following international IEC standard.
ANSI: predefined option for projects following American National
Standards Institute symbols and settings.
You can also create an empty project. In this case, you will have a project with a
blank configuration, no data, or document. You will have to set the configuration
before starting work on the project. It’s not recommended as a starting point
until you are familiar with the software.
Opening a Project
Select a project in the list and open it. A project contains all the data and
drawings of an electrical installation. When the Project is open, it appears in the
side panel.
Navigation trees
On the left side, there are two navigation trees. You can
browse by sheet or by component. You can change the
layout to see only one navigation tree at one time or
several.
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“Document” display
The project can be seen as a consistent set of documents about an electrical
installation.
The navigator allows the user to organize the project on several levels.
Several kinds of documents are available. All the documents editable in elecworks
will be called “drawings”.
Data files:
Data files are external files copied into the project. They can be any files in any
format.
All other file formats may be added to the project but it will not
be possible to preview or edit them in the elecworks interface.
If you wish to open them, the application associated with the
type of file will open them.
“Component” display
The main information of the project after the document is the electrical
component (device). Electrical components are identified by a tag (usually
single) and can be made up of several symbols. elecworks allows you to manage
components, even if they are not represented in the diagram. One or more
manufacturers can be allocated to the component.
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For example, a contactor relay is one component
with its own mark but it may be represented by a
coil symbol, a power contacts symbol and several
other symbols indicating the other contacts. In
addition there is another symbol for the coil used in
the Synoptic, (Single line diagram). The components
navigator shows the corresponding symbols and
coordinates for each component part, from which
you can reach, (go directly to), the symbols.
A component can have several references, the main reference (base) and
auxiliary contact blocks added to the base.
Project data
When you open a project, but before you open any diagram, some new menus
become available.
“Project” menu
“Process” menu
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Wire numbering.
3D cabinet layout for SolidWorks.
2D cabinet layout
Project translation.
However, you have drawing commands ("Drawing" menu) allowing you for
example, to create your own symbols or your own title blocks.
“Drawing” menu
This menu has all the tools you’ll need to draw shapes, insert text, images, etc.
These drawing types contain no electrical information.
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“Line diagram” menu
“Schematic” menu
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Drawing wires
To draw your electrical scheme, you have an infinite number of styles of wires
(For example, for command or power wires). They are defined in the Line Style
Manager. The choice of styles of wires will be very important when numbering
wires.
The Line Style Manager includes all available wires for the Project. These wires
are grouped by Numbering Group. This means that, when numbering the wires,
all wires in the same group share the same counter.
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Inserting symbols
elecworks has a symbols library that meets the needs of electrical schematics
drawing. You can use these symbols or create your own symbols and incorporate
them either into the existing library or to your own library.
Copy/Paste
The elecworks interface follows Microsoft Windows standards and uses
Copy/Paste, Drag and Drop, Undo/Redo, etc.
The easiest way to add a symbol is to copy an existing one. You can copy a
selected symbol from one scheme to another, from one project to another, or in
the same scheme.
You can also select a symbol and move it pressing [Ctrl] key to make a new
copy.
When you copy a symbol this way, a new component is created and the symbol
receives a new mark.
The "Other symbol" button opens the symbols library to select the symbol to
insert.
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Symbols palette
When you open a scheme, two tabs appear in the side panel: palettes of
Symbols and Macros.
Macros palette
A macro is typically a standard layout
you use a lot. It is composed of a scheme
and all the data linked to symbols
(components, references, location, etc).
To add a new macro, the user just needs to select the part of
scheme he wants to save, then drag and drop the selection
onto the macro palette.
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Electrical components
A Component is by definition an electrical device. It includes devices such as
circuit breakers, contactors and also terminal strips and PLCs.
The component has a mark that guarantees its uniqueness. Typically a
component is represented by one or more symbols using the same mark, but
also elecworks manages Components without a graphical representation in the
scheme.
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Allocating a manufacturer’s reference
The catalogs of leading manufacturers of electrical equipment are present in
elecworks.
You will see that the manufacturer's reference has generated circuits (visible in
the bottom of the dialog box). These circuits are also in symbols, and when you
associate symbols with manufacturer's references, these circuits are colored
according to their status.
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The PLC manager
elecworks allows you to manage any type of PLC. It can be single-piece PLC, or
PLC with rack and controller cards. You have two interfaces, one to manage the
structure of the PLC and a second to manage IO.
Sheets on which the PLC will be drawn are automatically generated. You may be
able to complete them.
To launch the PLC drawing, click on the Generate / Update drawings button.
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Numbering wires
The command numbering wires uses the wires specific parameters.
You have two commands in the Process menu to number the wires.
Renumber wires when changes were made in the scheme or in the numbering
settings.
You can also edit a wire mark using the context menu for the wire.
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Managing terminal strips and cables
elecworks offers you the opportunity to realize the wiring diagram of your
installation before even having drawn your schema and generate the list of
cables. The wiring diagram materializes how devices are connected between
them and you can pre-reserve your cables. This step is not compulsory, you can
realize your wiring directly into the schematic part of your Project.
The cable management interface allows you to add new cables to your project,
and in this case to reserve them.
Once reserved, the cable may be reused in the developed scheme of the
installation.
Inserting terminals
The terminals are managed like symbols. Symbols representing the terminals are
also classified in the library.
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Editing terminal strips
The terminal strips are classified by location. Each terminal strip is associated
with a configuration file for generation of the sheet. Select the terminal strip and
click the "Edit" button.
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Reports
elecworks includes several reports provided as standard: :
- List of sheets
- Bill of materials
- List of cables
- etc.
You can run as is or modify the templates so that reports display the information
you need.
You must first select the reports that you want to appear in your Project.
Report Manager displays the results of data mining in the form of tabs. To add a
new report click "Add".
Editing templates
Standard reports may sometimes not be enough, as they do not display the
information you want or on the contrary display too much information. You can
edit the report template (by clicking the "Properties" button) to modify its
appearance, its data, etc.
Generating reports
You can get your reports in three different forms:
- In the form of sheets
- In the form of Excel files
- In the form of text files
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Cabinet layout
elecworks has two types of cabinet layout, depending on your equipment.
- A 3D cabinet layout, made in SolidWorks
- A 2D cabinet layout, made in elecworks.
As all Project locations are not necessarily the subject of a cabinet layout, a
dialog box lets you select those you want to process. One file is created per
location. These files are visible in the Project navigation tree.
The command to generate the sheets for 2D Cabinet layout is available in the
Process menu.
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Printing sheets
The final step in drawing an electrical scheme is obviously the printing of the
project documents. Even if you can print each document separately, elecworks
has a print manager that helps you in printing your project.
The command to open the "Print Manager" is available in the Project menu.
You can also generate a file in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF), containing all
your sheets. The command is available in the Process menu.
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Conclusion
We hope that this document was helpful to get started on elecworks. If your
schedule permits, we advise you to unarchive a sample project, to print it and try
to reproduce it.
We would like to remind you that many documents are available to assist you in
drawing your projects. See the contextual help (F1 key), and the documents
available on your Customer Portal (www.elecworks.com).
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