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

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

AIM- Route two electrical harnesses as per the given layout and interconnect them as a single harness assembly then check for bundle continuity, and bundle warnings, and then give annotations to the final harness assembly.

OBJECTIVE-

1. The objective of this project is to first route the two Harness A and Harness B as per the given harness layout.

Step 1: We have to first define all the connectors geometrically and electrically as shown in the below images.

Step 2:

Now, we have to create Harness A and Harness B by using electrical harness assembly as shown in the below image.

First, we will locate all the connectors at their desired position, add the branch points required and create bundle segments according to the diameters assumed as 10mm

Harness B Routing

Harness A Routing

Step 3:

• Now in this step, we have to check bundle continuity in both Harness A and Harness B.
• So for that, go to Edit>Search>Workbench-Electrical>Type-Bundle segment>Attribute-fully connected.
• We will get one window, in which selecting the True option will show all the connected bundle segments while selecting the False option will show all the non-connected bundle segments.
• Now, we will check for True conditions and search for results.
• All the bundle segments are showing connected. So there is bundle continuity in both Harness A & Harness B as shown in the below images.

Step 4:

• In this step, we have to interconnect both Harness A & Harness B.
• For that, we have to create a new product file and can give the name Assembly.
• Then, copy both harnesses and paste them into the newly created product file or call both harnesses in mechanical assembly design as in the below image.

• We have to go into Electrical Assembly Design to connect both harnesses electrically. So for that, select the option 'connect electrical devices', and both the harnesses will get connected electrically as below.

• As shown in the below image, the male connector should have been inserted into the female connector.

Step 5:

• In this step, we have to add annotations for all the connectors in the mechanical assembly design workbench.
• Annotations are used for giving connector names, functions, etc.
• For this, we have to select the plane where the annotation will be placed. In the below image, we have selected the front plane.

• We should make sure that the geometrical bundle is active before selecting the annotation plane.
• We can change a font, font color, and font size by going into the properties as shown below image.

• So after giving annotations to all connectors, the whole assembly will look as below.

Step 7:

• Now, in this step, we have to convert the final harness assembly file into IGS format. So for that, we need to follow the below steps.
• Mechanical Assembly Design workbench>Tools>Generate CAT Part from the product.
• Once the CAT part is created, the whole product file is converted into a single part.
• Now, the whole file is converted into the IGS format and we can see all the harness assembly is looking in grey color.
• If we need to change the color as before in green, we can go back and give green color to each bundle segment.

To save the CAT part file as an IGS file, we have to use the 'Save as' option.

So in this way, we have done the harness routing and interconnection of both harness A&B according to the given layout. Both the harnesses are checked and corrected for bundle continuity, bundle warnings, and annotations are added for all the connectors and at the end, the whole CAT part file is converted into the IGS format.