Project 1

Assignment: Route the Wiring harness on Given Engine and Prepare flatten view drawing in CATIA V5.

The first step involved in Wiring harness design process is "Input Collection".
All the required data like Physical Architecture (gives the location of the components), BOM(Bill of Materials), Vehicle Specification (Assembly sequence and Wet/Dry Zones) and ROX(Return on Experience) from past learning.
The next step is "Data Study". The data from the input collection is studied to understand the assembly sequence and component location which helps in building the "Harness Topology".
The Wiring harness topology is reviewed with the cross functional teams it is modified if any changes required.if the topology is approved then the "concept routing" is prepared and it is again reviwed with the cross functional teams to check manufacturing & service feasibility.
After finalizing the concept routing, the packaging requirement is published to the design team and then the proto Harness drawing is reviwed for supplier feasibility. upon finalizing the drawing prototype is built and it is reviewed with all Cross functional teams for validation before releasing the harness drawing to the production.

Download all the relevant CAD data like Engine, Connectors, Channels and clips & clamps etc., for Engine Harness routing(from Grabcad, TE.com & HellermannTyton etc).

To create the context assembly for routing. Go to File > New > Product and click on OK. Right click on the product and select properties. Name it as "Engine Wiring harness context assembly" as shown in the below image.

Now add the engine into the product by right clicking on the product and go to components and select existing component. select the engine cad file and click on open.

To create the geometrical bundle, right click on the Engine Wiring harness context assembly.Go to components > New Product. Right click on the product, go to properties and name it as "Engine Wiring harness geometrical bundle".

Before adding the connectors, P clamps, Fir tree cable ties and Bottom channel into the geometrical bundle they must be defined electrically. When a component is defined electrially, it can be cross checked with the "icon change" in the specification tree and publications will also be added.

Defining "P-clamp" electrically:
Create the Geometrical parameters like points and planes required for defining the P-clamp as Support part in the part design module. Now, Switch to Electrical part design module and Use the "Define Support" command .
select the entry point, entry plane, exit plane and base plane. Since there are two possible entries in a Clamp use the same command and select the appropriate point and planes to define the other point as entry point.

Defining "connectors" electrically:
Create the Geometrical set like point at the bundle entry side,mating side and cavity side. Also create the axis system at the mating side and cavity side. Ensure the consistency of the axes system in the mating parts too.
Switch to Electrical part desing module to define the connector and clip as an electrical part.
Use "Define Connector" command to define the connector and "Define Mounting equipment" to define the clip.
Now use "define Bundle connection point, define Connector connection point, define cavity conncetion point" commands and choose the appropriate points, faces and axes to the Bundle connection point, Connector connection point and cavity conncetion point. Use "Define cavity" command for the clip.

Defining "Fir tree cable ties" electrically:
Create the Geometrical parameters like points and planes required for defining the P-clamp as Support part in the part design module. Now, Switch to Electrical part design module and Use the "Define Support" command .
select the entry point, entry plane, exit plane and base plane. Since there are two possible entries in fir tree cable tie clip use the same command and select the appropriate point and planes to define the other point as entry point.

Defining "Guiding Channel" electrically :
Create the Geometrical set like point at all the ports(8) as shown in the below image. Also create a line to route the bundle segment inside the channel using external curve option. Use "Define bundle connection point" command to define the bundle entry point. choose the appropriate planes and points and click on ok.

After Defining all the components electrically, add them(Copy-paste) in the "Engine Wiring harness geometrical bundle" product as shown in the below image. The connectors can also be added from the Catalogue.

The given Engine CAD model has dummy cam shaft sensor, Coolant temperature sensor, oil pressure sensor, Injector sensor, speed sensor and neutral transmission sensor.
To the position the connectors, channels, clips and clamps switch to "Assembly design" module an use the " Manipulation, Snap, Smart move, Translation or Rotation" commands as shown in the below image. position the p clamps and fir tree cable ties according to the routing as shown in the below images. Also, place the interconnect connector on the bracket and the guiding channel near the injectors on the cylinder head.

To define the Harness assembly electrically, switch to the Electrical harness Assembly module and click on geometrical bundle command and then select the "Engine Wiring harness geometrical bundle" product. After defining the geometrical bundle electrically the icon changes with a blue symbol, you can cross check with the "icon change" as shown in the below image.

The Mutli-Branchable document is created when we start to route the first bundle segment by clicking on the "Branch Definition" command as shown in the below image. Also the module switches to Electrical Harness Installation.

In the Branch definition window, you can a set the "Bundle diameter, Bend radius and slack". Bend radius ratio is usually set to 1.4 and it should not be less that that. Always check that the traffic lights near the computed bend radius is in Green. A little Slack is always added to the bundle segment that is connected to the connector to prevent the damage due to tension.
There are various "build mode" available you can also change the mode to length and specify the length of the bundle segment. The bundle segment can also be created along the external curve by clicking on the "external curve" option in the branch definition window and then selecting the curve. This option can be used while routing the bundle inside the Guiding channels.
"Bundle diameter" and "colour" can be changed using "Bundle segmnet definition" option in the branch definition window. When there are various concept proposals Changing the colour using this option helps us to refer quickly during the reviews.
Generally Routing is always started from the interconnects and main trunk is routed first. Then the branch points are created and the bundles are routed from the branch points to the connectors.
Now click on "Route definition" in the branch definition windiow and then select the interconnect first and then P-clamp to route the bundle segment as show in the below image.

you can also add new routing objects in required order by using the "Add before, Add after and replace" options. For example when you select the add before option the new routing objected is created before the selected routing object. similary replace option creates the new routing objects in place of the selected routing object.

Orientation and offset of the bundle segment can be managed by using the "offset management" and "position management" command in the "Route definition" window as shown in the below image.
To change the Tangent orientation you need to select the routing object and then click on "Reverse Tangent" option.
To set the tangential direction similar to an external curve. select the constraint type as "explicit" under tangent managment in the Route definition window.

Automatic option in Offset management is the computer calculated and it the default option. But, when the routed bundle segment is fouling with surrounding the "offset with saftey margin" can be used to provide the required clearance by sepecifying the value. To add the control point in the bundle segment for clearing the clash, Press the control key and place the point appropriately.
Now continue to route the main trunk through the P clamps mounted along the transmission flange as shown in the below image.

Now create a "Branch point" in Branchabe-2 by using the "Add branch point" command and select the branchable 2. set the ratio to 0.5 to create the point in the middle of the bundle. Now route the bundle segment from the branch point to the conenctors connected to coolant temperature sensor and speed sensor as shown in the image.

Also create a branch points at branchable 1 and branchable-3 and route the bundle segment to the connectors connected to cam shaft sensors as shown in the below images. ensure that the bundle segments connected to the connectors are given enough slack to prevent tension.

Route the bundle to the oil pressure senor loacated at either side on the bottom from the main trunk as shown in the figure. Adjust the position of the fir tree tie cables by using the compass if necessary and place then as shown in the image.

Now route the bundle to the to the guiding channel on both sides through the fir tree clip mounted on the cylinder block as shown in the below image. use the external curve option in the Branch definition window to route the straight bundle segment inside the channel and Also create eight branch points as shown below.

Route the bundle from the branch points in the channel to the corresponding bundle entry point in the channel as shown below.

Now add 5 percent slack and route the bundles from the bundle entry point(port) to the corresponding connector in both the channnels as shown below.

TO check the continuity of the bundle segments go to edit > search. click on the advanced tab. select the workbench as electrical, Type as bundle segment and Attribute as Fully connected. select the false option. click on the seach icon and ensure that no objects are found as shown in the below image. You can also select the true option and click on searcha nd select to check whether all the bundles are connected.

The protection(corrugated tubes) can be added from the catalogue.
To create CatalogDocument go to File > New > CatalogDocument
Select "Add Family" Command name it as Slit COT and select the type conduit. Then, save it locally.
Now go to File > New > Part and create a single parts as per the names given in the table by using "define protection part" command.
Apply the required Id, OD and thickness. consider the bendlenth as 1.5 times OD. click ok and the tube will appear.
Select the store device command and choose the previously saved catalogue and Slit COT family. click ok.

Now Switch back to Electrical harness assembly module and use "Protective Covering" command to apply proctection to the bundle segments. browse the catalogue and select the required COT tube and select the bundle segments. click on OK.

you can change the extremity point by clicking on the "start extremity" and "end exxtremity". specify the ratio or length and click on ok.

The temperature is high near the engine. Similarly add all protection covering for all the bundle segments as shown in the below image. The bundles in the channel dont require protection covering as they covered by the channel.

Now, Got to File > New > Product and name it as "Engine wiring harness flattening". Switch to Electrical harness flattening installation and add the flattening parameters by using "Harness Flattening Parameters" command as shown in the below image.

Select the active place and the appropriate representation type in the drawing tab as shown in the below image. Click OK and Save the file in the same location as the context assembly.

Tile the windows vertically and Select the "extract" command and click on the Geometrical bundle product in the Context assembly window to call the harness assembly into the flattening product. Click on "flatten" command and click on any bundle and enable the select all bundle segments option. click on ok.
You can use the compass to position the channel, clips and clamps accordingly. To create links that are created while extraction, use the Auto Update Flatten link , Manually Update Flatten link commands.and to remove links. Also use "synchronize" command to update the 3D changes made in the harness assembly.
Use the rotate, roll, straighten and junction command to change the branch orientation according to the requirement as shown in the below image.

Save it.
create a new CATDrawing file and name it as "Engine Wiring Harness Flattening Drawing". Select the "front view" command and then select required plane in the Flattened Harness assmebly to pull the flattned view into the drawing sheet.
Go to properties and enable the "3D wire frame" option and "3D colors" click ok and save the drawing file.