Wiring harness design in CATIA V5 - 3D modeling Week 2 Challenge

AIM:

The objective of this challenge is to define electrical properties for the dowloaded component in the CATIA v5

Wiring Harness basic:

Selection of component:

Selection of connectors, fuses, lights, switches, sensors, wires, cables, relays, protection tubes, motors etc. are the core components of the wiring harness. The performance of these components directly determines the overall performance of the wiring harness and plays a decisive role in the stability and safety of the whole vehicle. The basis of the selection of these components is the voltage system and its current carrying capacity. Ambient temperature in the selection of these components is one of the most important aspects of wiring harness design. Proper selection of these electrical components and their conductors ensures reliability and safety. For example, for the requirements of high performance airbags like ABS and ECU with a terminal connector, gold-plated pieces are preferred to ensure safety and reliability.

Wiring diagram

Wiring diagrams are also known as schematics or circuit diagrams. The selected components are placed and connected to each other in the diagram. These components belong to a set of libraries which can be modified and configured according to customer specific requirements. A wiring diagram shows each connection in detail. The schematics give an overview of the components that are part of the electrical design. Other items in the schematics are for example cables, sheet cross references and ECUs.

If an assembly is going to be used for communications or data signal transmission, twisted pairs should be considered to eliminate the risk of noise or EMI (electromagnetic interference) impacting on the performance of the assembly.

Wiring harness

There are several factors to consider when designing a cable assembly or wire harness for your application. The wiring harness is designed once the schematics are ready.

The entire vehicle is divided into parts which are detachable and the wiring harnesses are designed accordingly. This process also involves generating a connection list and a BOM (bill of materials). Harness passes through many areas where it requires protection against heat, dust, moisture etc. Wire harness protection prevents damage caused by wire vibration damage, abrasions and incidental contact with other pieces of heat-producing equipment.

Electrical routing

The lengths of the harnesses in the harness drawing are derived from the 3D models. Harness installation drawings are generated via 3D routing. The routing feature creates a unique type of subassembly which builds paths of electrical cables between the components. It ensures flexibility between two or more components and helps in deciding the path through which the cable should run to avoid further complexity. This helps in understanding the path followed by a particular harness.

CONNECTOR DEFINATIONS IN CATIA V5

1. Deutsch DT06 – 08SA

Connector connection point:

● Create midpoint on the contact face which will be normal to wire bundle insertion. When the creation bundle connection point includes number terminals, it would reflect in the tree structure.

2. Tyco 174357-2 :

● Create midpoint

● create Connector connection point

● create Connector connection axis system

● create cavity connection point

● create cavity connection axis system

● Switch to Electric part design and define part as connector

● Define Connector connection point and cavity connection point

3. Tyco 85229-1 :

● Create midpoint

● create cavity connection point

● create cavity connection axis system and orientation should be same as in connector

● Switch to Electric part design and define part as Mounting Equipment

● Define cavity connection point

Elctric Assembly Design

● Import 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.