Project 1

Aim : Route the wiring harness on given V-16 engine and prepare flatten view in CATIA. Apply all packaging rules and industry best practices.

Theory :

The given V-16 engine consist of following electrical components to which harness routing is required.

• 8+8 fuel injectors on the engine cylinders for both sides of the engine block (16 injectors), which are connected by a 4 pole connector with the wiring harness.
• 2 camshaft sensors on each engine block (4 camshaft sensors), which are connected by a 4 pole connector with the wiring harness.
• Engine coolant sensor at the centre of the engine between the two blocks, which is connected by a 2 pole connector, with the wiring harness.
• Engine oil temperature and pressure sensor fitted at the oil sump of the engine on both engine cylinder blocks, which are connected by a 2 pole connector with the wiring harness.
• 1 sensor to measure vehicle speed, which is connected by a 2 pole connector, with the wiring harness.
• 1 sensor to sense neutral positon of the transmission assembly, which is connected by a 2 pole connector, with the wiring harness.
• An interconnection connector to connect engine harness system to vehicle harness system.

Other equipments required to complete the wiring harness routing

• Guiding channels to protect the harness routing from high heat zones of the engine wherever necessary.
• P-clamps to provide positive clamping and ensure clearance management for the routing wherever necessary.
• Sheetmetal brackets such as L-clips to mount the interconnection connector.
• Mounting clips to mount the connectors whenever required.
• Corrugated protection tubes to protect the wiring harness.

Assumpions and packing rules :

• Wiring harness routing shall provide ease in manufacturing, accessibility, easy removal and easy maintenance of attached equipments and routing harness.
• Wiring harness should be routed in such a way that it is easy to assemble on a vehicle.
• Wiring harness should be kept away from sharp environments like sheet metal brackets, panel edges, corners etc.
• Avoid harness routing and clipping in blind zone of operator during harness during installation.
• Ensure that routing meets the clearance requirements with the different surrounding parts.
• Routing shall provide enough slack for each branch to avoid additional stress on wire and terminal crimping joints but ensure that extra slack does not cause wiring harness foul with surrounding parts and impact desired clearance requirements.
• Enough clamps should be provided to ensure the positive clearance with surrounding and safety of wiring harness.
• Use of plastic guided channels are recommended to meet the clearances in critical areas if it is difficult to achieve by use of clamps.
• Branch length should be minimum 50mm.
• Minimum distance between clip and nearest branching point should be 25mm.
• Minimum distance between two breakouts should be 50mm.
• Limit the no. of branches from single branch point to 4.
• Ensure that harness protection is provided according to surrounding temperature, manufacturabilty and expected reliability.
• The min. bend radius is to be 1.4.
• Consider min 5% slack in the wiring harness if needed.

Procedure :

Step 1. Create context assembly product file

Image : Context assembly product file

Create context assembly as shown in the image above. The context assembly will contain 3D CAD data for the engine and engine harness geometrical bundle assembly. Any sheet metal component such as L-clip required will be added into the context assembly.

Step 2. Define the connectors electrically

Before adding connectors into the geometrical bundle define all the required connectors electrically.

To define any connector electrically,

a. Create required geometrical parameters like bundle connection point, connector connection axis and cavity connection axis (if required) to the connector in the part design workbench as shown in the image below.

Image : Defining geometrical parameters

b. Now define connector with electrical properties such as connector connection point, bundle connection point and cavity connection point.

c.Go to electrical part design workbench and select connector command and input the no. of terminals as per the available connector.

Image : Define given component as connector

d. Defining connector connection point using connector connection point command and define the parameters as shown in the image below.

Image :Defining connector connection point

e. Define bundle connection point using bundle connection point command and define the parameters as below.

Image : Defining bundle connection point

f. Define cavity connection point using cavity connection point command and defining the parameters as shown below.

Image : Defining Cavity connection point

Hence the connector is defined electrically.

Step 3. Inserting connectors into geometrical bundle and positioning them.

a. The connectors are inserted into the geometrical bundle and positioned onto the fuel injectors, camshaft sensors, vehicle speed sensor, neutral position sensor and engine coolant sensor as shown in the images below.

Image : Connectors connected to fuel injectors

Image : Connectors connected to camshaft sensors, vehicle speed sensor, engine coolant sensor and neutral position sensor.

Image : All connectors positioned

Step 4. Adding sheet metal bracket for the interconnection connector.

A sheet metal bracket (L-clip) is added inside the context assembly to mount the interconnection connector. The L-clip is added inside the context assembly and not into the geometrical bundle since it will not be bought along with the wiring harness. Existing bolt on the engine is used to mount the sheet metal bracket. The bracket should be provided with a suitable locking feature in clockwise direction. The ribs on the current engine design can be taken into advantage for the locking purpose so that it cant rotate freely. The design idea should be discussed with engine design team while using the existing bolts and screws so that there wont be any disturbance for the normal functioning of the engine as well.

Image : Added sheet metal bracket on engine

Step 5. Defining mounting clip electrically so that the interconnection connector can be mounted on the sheet metal bracket

To define mounting clip electrically

a. First define the geometrical parameters which is cavity connection axis in the part design workbench as shown in the image below.

Image : Defining geometrical parameters to mounting clip

b. Defining elecrical properties to the mounting clip by going to the electrical part design workbench.

c. Define the clip as mounting equipment using mounting equipment command.

d. Select cavity command and define the parameters as shown below.

Image : Defining mounting clip as cavity

Step 6. Mounting the interconnection connector on the sheetmetal bracket

To mount the interconnection connector onto the sheet metal bracket, first the mounting clip is mounted on the sheet metal bracket as shown below.

Image : Mounting mounting clip on the sheetmetal bracket

Then the interconnection connector is electrically connected with the mounting clip by using connect electrical devices command in the electrical assembly design workbench.

Image : Mounting clip and connector electrically connected

Step 7. Adding P-clamps to provide positive clamping for the wiring harness.

a. P-clamps should be defined with electrical properties before inserting into the geometrical bundle assembly.

First define geometrical parameters such as entry point, entry plane, exit point, exit plane and base plane as shown in the image below.

Image : Defining geometrical parameters to P clamp

b. Go to electrical part design workbench and define the P-clamps as support using support command and define the parameters as shown below.

Image : Defining P clamp as support

c. Use support command again and select first plane definition as exit point and exit plane, this is done to obtain wiring entry from either sides of P-clamps.

d. P-Clamps are mounted on the existing bolts and screws to provide positive clamping and ensure proper clearance management for the wiring harness routing.

Image : P-clamps positioned on the engine

Step 8. Adding plastic guiding channels

The given V-16 engine has 8 injectors both on the left and right side of the engine which are close to one another, hence using plastic guiding channels is the best option for easy and proper routing of the wiring harness and maintain clearance requirement of the wires from the high temperature parts of the engines.

Before adding guiding channels into the geometrical bundle assembly it is necessary to define electrical properties to it, which is done by following steps.

a. First create geometrical parameters such as bundle entry points, and external reference line in the part design workbench to route the wiring harness into the guiding channel as shown below.

Image : Defining geometrical parameters for guiding channnels

b. Go to electrical part design and define the part as equipment using equipment command and define bundle connection points using bundle connection point command towards the entry points of the guiding channel as shown in the image below.

Image : Defining electrical proerties to guiding channel

Now insert the guiding channel into the geometrical bundle and position it accordingly as required, both on the left and right side of the engine as shown in the image below.

Image : Positioning guiding channel

Discuss with engine design team to provide additional tappings wherever required to mount the guiding channels with bolts and screws.

Now as all the components are inserted and positioned into the geometrical bundle, the assembly is ready to route the harness.

Step 9. Routing the wiring harness to the connectors

Go to electrical harness assembly workbench and select geometrical bundle command and select the geometrical bundle in the model tree. Then select the multibranchable command to start the bundle routing and go to route definition.

i) The bundle routing starts from interconnection connector and then to the P-clamps and to the guiding channels.

Image : Bundle routing from interconnection connector

ii) Adding branching points wherever necessary using add branch point command as shown below.

Image : Adding braching points

iii) Adding branches wherever necessary to connect the various connectors to the main branch as shown below using add branches command and routing definition into it.

Image : Added branches

iv) To route the wiring harness through the guiding channels select external curve and click on the line in the guiding channel.

Image : Routing through guiding channel

v) Add branching points to the wiring bundle and add branches to to connect the wiring to the connectors at the injectors as shown below.

Image : Adding branching points to the branchable in guiding channel

Image : Adding branches to the connect with the injector

Thus the routing is completed as shown below.

Image : Engine harness routing

Due to the high MB, I am sharing the link of Google Drive with you because you have a limit of 20 MB in it and my model is going up to 50MB, so for this reason, I am sharing the link of Google Drive here. Am. In this you will get the entire model.

DRIVE LINK:- https://drive.google.com/file/d/132HozmEl1bXBqQ9TCKdJGhC8RsnX_LeT/view?usp=sharing