Wiring harness design in CATIA V5 - 3D modeling Week 5 & 6 Challenge

Aim: Two electrical harnesses are routed according to the configuration provided and connected as one harness assembly. The finished harness assembly is then annotated after being checked for bundle continuity and bundle warnings.

Objective: 

1. The objective of this project is to first route the two Harness A and Harness B as per the given harness layout.
2. Bundle continuity has to be checked for the two created harnesses.
3. After the two Harnesses are created, the next objective is to have them interconnected electrically.
4. Check for bundle warnings in Harness A and Harness B.
5. Add annotations to all the connectors in Harness A and Harness B.
6. The final objective of this project is to convert the final harness file into IGS file format.

Solution:

STEP 1: Define all the electrical connectors geometrically and electrically so that they can be used in the wiring harness.

STEP 2: Create harness A and harness B as shown below by using the electrical harness workbench in CATIA V5.

First, all the connectors are placed at their desired locations. Second, bundle segments are created between the connectors with branch points and branches as shown below. 

STEP 3: After Harness A and Harness B are created the next step is to check the bundle continuity. 

First, we have to make sure the multi-branchable is selected and then we have to go to Edit>Search>Advanced>Electrical Workbench>Type-Bundle Segment>Attribute-Fully Connected.

Selecting the "TRUE" option will show all the connected bundle segments while selecting the "FALSE" option will show all the non-connected bundle segments.

STEP 4:

In this stage, we'll search Harness A and B for bundle warnings.

Geometric bundle alerts are shown for the Bend radius, Bundle diameter, and Vector position. A yellow flash will show up next to the faulty branchable in the tree structure if these inputs or values are wrong. Depending on how the bundle segment is routed, we can either add slack or adjust the segment point's vector location to solve the issue. There isn't an error in our situation.

STEP 5:

Wiring Harness A and Harness B must be electrically connected in this step. The two harnesses need to be electrically connected, which requires a few procedures.

Create a new product file in CATIA and rename it to "Assy Wire Harness" to get things started.

The final harness assembly can then be built by adding harness A and harness B to the newly formed product file. Connect the male and female connectors inside the electrical assembly design workbench as illustrated below.

STEP 6:

We will label each electrical connector in this phase.

Annotations are used to show extra information as well as connect functionalities. They are described in the Assembly Design Workbench of CATIA V5. Prior to placing the annotation, we must choose a plane. Next, choose the "flag note with ladder" option, and then click each connector separately. Give each connector the information they require, as illustrated below. We should enlarge the font size of the notes to make them more noticeable after adding annotations to all of the connectors.

STEP 7:

Our Final Harness Assembly file needs to be converted into IGS format before we can move on. The steps listed below must be followed in order to achieve this.

Toolbox for Mechanical Assembly>Generate CAT Part from product

The complete product file is turned into a single part when the CAT part has been created. It is now evident that the bundle segments are all grey in hue. To match the Final Harness Assembly, we'll go back and add green color to each bundle segment.

Finally, we may utilize the "SAVE AS" function to save the CAT component file as an IGS file, as demonstrated below.

Conclusion:

It was possible to route the two electrical harnesses in accordance with the configuration provided and link them as one harness assembly. For bundle warnings and continuity, the harness was examined and adjusted. The finished harness assembly file was converted into IGS format, and annotations were added to each connector.