Wiring harness design in CATIA V5 - 3D modeling Week 2 Challenge
Designing wiring harnesses using CATIA V5.
INTRODUCTION
A wiring harness combines electrical and mechanical CAD to connect all the electrical parts in the automobile at the optimum level.
BASICS OF ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (EDS) AND WIRING HARNESS
1) Electrical Distribution System: It runs from the vehicle's front to the rear end. It involves physical and logical architecture schematic development, power distribution, wiring harness design, and wiring harness component design of the given electrical system. It ensures the physical location of all electrical components placed in the vehicle. It provides the logical connectivity between electrical components. It has an electrical controller unit for different sections like Airbag ECU, ABS ECU, and Engine (ECU).
2) E&E Architecture: It is the high-level logical connectivity diagram. It represents all the systems, sub-systems and logical connections between them. It shows the Control Area Network (CAN) between different electronic components.
3) Logical schematics: Detailed design of E&E architecture. It shows the logical connectivity between different components and controls of a given system and subsystem. It does not define any other parameter except electrical connectivity.
4) Electrical schematics: Detailed design of logical schematics, pin-to-pin connectivity, properties, fusing distribution, grounding distribution, interconnects, wire properties (wire gauge, colour, type), circuit properties (circuit number, connector designation number, control device number), specification of components, end results of the electrical core design of the system and primary input for harness design.
5) Wiring harness topology: Strategy to split the harness between different pieces to achieve the best manufacturability, serviceability and cost-effective design.
6) Wiring harness routing: It provides the desired path of the wiring harness into a given vehicle environment by applying set of design rules and industry best practices.
7) Wiring harness packaging: Fixing/mounting strategy of wiring harness routing to ensure the safety, reliability and durability of the wiring harness by applying the set of design rules and industry best practices.
WIRING HARNESS ASSEMBLY
The term Wiring Harness refers to the assembly of
1) Wires: Various bundled wires together. Each individual wire is responsible for carrying the electrical signals and energy. Wires are made up of Cu conductors insulated with PVC insulation.
2) Connectors: These are electro-mechanical devices used to join electrical termination. Connectors create an electrical circuit. These are plastic moulded housings with locking and retention features.
3) Terminals: A device used to terminate a conductor that is to be affixed to a post, stud, chassis, another tongue etc., to establish an electrical connection. These are metal conductors with plating constructed in specific shapes.;
4) Protection devices: Corrugated flexible tube.
5) Insulation: adhesive and non-adhesive tapes and sleeves. Polymer or cotton/polymer (very effective in high-temperature zones).
6) Clips & Clamps: Plastic moulded parts with mounting /snapping features.
7) Fuse and relay box: Plastic moulded parts are used to package fuses and relays in a systematic manner.
8) Retention device: Plastic moulded parts to mount connector and other harness components. Connector backshells.
9) Guiding channels: Plastic moulded parts or metal parts designed to guide the harness bundle in a given geometric area to secure and protect the harness.
10 Electronic components: Diodes, terminating resistors, flasher, and Timer circuits are some parts of the harness supply.
DESIGN OF WIRING HARNESS IN CATIA V5
To design the wiring harness in CATIA V5, the interface and some settings have to be changed in the design modeller.
The electrical part design, electrical harness assembly, electrical harness installation, electrical harness flattening, and electrical assembly design have to be customized to the workbench for easy access.
1) Electrical part design: The mechanical part is converted into an electrical part by manipulating the electrical properties into it.
2) Electrical Harness Installation: Route the harness.
3) Electrical Harness Flattening: Finalizing the routing
CUSTOMIZED SETTINGS FOR ELECTRICAL ENVIRONMENT
An electrical catalogue has to be made to save the electrical parts into it and use it whenever required.
1)Infrastructure settings: In the product structure option enable cache management.
2)Equipment and system: In Electrical mapping select the connector catalog which is created as an electrical catalog.
3) Electrical Harness installation
CONNECTOR MODELING
Download the specified connector from te.com. In the part, the design workbench provides the centre point and axis system to the wire inserting end and connection end. The axis must be given in a specified way:
X-axis: Towards the clamp
Y-axis: Towards the connection
Z-axis: left or right of the connector.
CONNECTOR DEFINITIONS IN CATIA V5
Deutsch DT06 – 08SA
Connector connection point:
Create a midpoint on the contact face which will be normal for wire bundle insertion. When the creation bundle connection point includes a number of terminals, it would reflect in the tree structure.
After the bundle connection point, we would start the connector connection point. Create a point in the mid face and create an axis X axis should be oriented, the Y axis should be mating point, Z axis should be Left and Right position.
Tyco 174357-2 :
Create midpoint
create a Connector connection point
create a Connector connection axis system
create a cavity connection point
create a cavity connection axis system
Switch to an Electric part design and define the part as a connector
Define Connector connection point and cavity connection point
Tyco 85229-1 :
Create midpoint
create a cavity connection point
create cavity connection axis system and orientation should be the same as in the connector
Switch to an Electric part design and define the part as Mounting Equipment
Define cavity connection point
Electric Assembly Design
Import the Connector and cavity/mounting clip into the new product sheet.
Switch into the electrical Assembly design.
Define the connecting link and select cavity and then connector.
