Wire Harness Software

By taking over the development and sales rights to Linius Technologies' Harness Expert 3D/2D software for wire harness engineering, Eplan offers more comprehensive support for all aspects of cable project management. The company will thus be able to tackle new segments of industry, including apparatus engineering, rail, and specialist vehicle technology, aviation, telecommunications and medical technology. Implementation of 1:1 connections via wire harnesses, which is a result of a constant increase in the number of circuit-board based units in control cabinets and devices, will also be fulfilled. The new, easy-to-use, software complements the company's Electric P8 CAE solution, which has previously handled the engineering of single wire and sheathed cables in control cabinets and field components. It displays typical harness or wiring loom design processes in 3D. All 2D production documents are produced by the system, which allows comprehensive openness when it comes to the import and export of third-party systems in design, administration and production. Integration between the Electric P8 and Harness expert provides all relevant wiring information and bundle socket assignments. The software provides different flexible approaches to designing a wire harness. Typically, this involves importing a 3D model from a conventional 3D CAD system, which then checks both the routes and design aspects such as clamps, clips, safety measures required and length calculations within the digital model. This does away with the time-consuming and expensive construction of prototypes. As an alternative to importing, things can be done in a simpler way. For example, if a wire harness has been laid within an imported 3D model, the design of the 3D model and the wire harness can be passed back to the mechanical design department. Any impediments to the wire harness as a function of the design can be detected in the virtual model and measures taken immediately - with no need for physical prototypes at all. If 3D models are not available for process-related or organizational reasons, a wire harness can be designed quickly and easily within Harness Experts 3D editor. Harness Expert uses the 3D or 2D wire harness layout to produce a wide range of reports required for quotation, ordering and production. Complete or individual parts lists, plug and splice lists, wiring and connection lists and reports on working processes in order to calculate time and costs. The data can be transferred directly to cable finishing systems such as Komax. In order to validate the wire harness design, the system has extensive, practical testing and checking functions for bending radii, fill levels, cable lengths, bundles without wires and connectors. This way inconsistency and errors may be identified at an early stage, prior to prototype production and simplify corrections.