
Consistencency of all design phases through object orientation
E3.series is a true concurrent electrical engineering environment supporting advanced requirements for electrical documentation, cabinet and wire harness design and manufacturing outputs. E3.series facilitates an efficient and accurate design and manufacturing process for electrical and fluid planning, cable planning, and wire harness and cabinet layout. Its object-oriented architecture provides an integrated and consistent design approach to help eliminate errors, improve quality and reduce design time.
Consistencency of all design phases through object orientation
Powerful automated operations and electrical checks
Comprehensive outputs for manufacturing and documentation
Native format library and design data management
An object-oriented system architecture provides the basis for the continuous synchronisation of all engineering phases and views. E3.series projects include all views of a project: circuit diagrams, fluid diagrams, cable diagrams, control cabinet layout plans or true-to-scale nailboard drawings. All views are dynamically linked; changes can be made in any view and are automatically reflected in all other views.
The modular architecture of E3.series enables a consistent solution for all requirements of electrical engineering in machinery and equipment manufacturing: from topology plans and circuit diagrams to cable and terminal diagrams and control cabinet layout in 2D and 3D. Thanks to the software’s object-oriented architecture, all views are constantly synchronized. Changes in any of the views are updated in real time across all related documents.
For the specific requirements of cable harness development in vehicle construction, E.series offers special applications for the creation of hierarchical circuit diagrams and cable plans as well as complete production documentation on a scale of 1:1. All related documents such as parts list, list of wire sections, cover sheet (table of contents) and documentation are permanently linked, so that all documents are up to date at all times
E3.schematic offers a powerful solution for the planning and documentation of electrical control systems including circuit diagrams, terminal diagrams and PLCs. E3.schematic manages all project data, including associated documents such as parts lists, connection lists, assembly instructions and data sheets. An object-oriented data structure ensures that the manufacturing instructions always correspond to the planning data.
With the extension E3.eCheck, users can check their electrical circuit diagram and examine it for fuse and cable dimensioning errors.
E3.fluid is the solution for designing and documenting all fluid systems. It is a complete, easy-to-use solution with core functionality optimized for the development of hydraulic, pneumatic, cooling and lubrication systems.
E3.cable is used for the design and documentation of cable plans and cable harness drawings. E3.cable can be used as an extension of E3.schematic to combine individual wires into cables or cable bundles, add shielding and twisted pair structures to the cables and automatically display them in the schematic. Complete systems and subsystems such as control units, rack equipment or even black boxes can be integrated as functional blocks in a hierarchical design.
E3.panel enables engineers to layout components within control cabinets in both 2D and 3D. The signal logic is inherited from the E3.schematic circuit diagram. Wires can be routed automatically through in the control cabinet by means of an autorouting function. With special links to the wire processing machines, wires can be automatically stripped, crimped and marked. With these features, E3.panel provides an integrated engineering solution for advanced control cabinet engineering.
E3.formboard provides a complete solution for the creation of wiring harness production drawings. Production drawings can be created on any sheet format and automatic functions facilitate the placement, arrangement and dimensioning of cable harnesses and segments. Wire lengths are determined automatically and an algorithm calculates the diameter widths of the wire harness segments. E3.formboard is fully integrated into E3.cable, i.e. logical connection data defined in E3.cable is used directly in E3.formboard and any changes made in either module are automatically applied.
E3.Revision Management ensures all changes are tracked and documented. Alternate revisions of the design are compared against each other and any changes are reported and stored in both graphical and textual formats. Multiple sub-systems within a single project can be issued and tracked independently.
E3.series circuit diagram and connection information fcan be exchanged with all major MCAD systems using E3.3DRoutingBridge. With E3.RoutingBridge, electrical component information such as connectors, pins and splices is transferred to the mechanical design department, where it can be laid out in 3D an checked for bending radius violations and collisions. The cable harness and segment lengths determined are then returned to E3.series for the generation of the manufacturing documentation. The cooperation between E3.series and the MCAD tool of your choice enables the simultaneous development of mechanical and electrical engineering. Mechanical and electrical engineers can work independently or together as required.
The Zuken Component Cloud for E3.series provides online access to free, validated, high-quality electrical component data to users of Zuken’s E3.series electrical design tools.
DS-E3 enables Zuken’s E3.series to manage electrical engineering project data in its native format. DS-E3 is tightly integrated with the the E3.series user interface and delivers up-to-date, validated libraries, project data and parts list information to design and manufacturing professionals.
All data created in E3.series can be exported to any user defined report format. Reports can be configured using the E3.series API or defined using E3.reports or an alternative report generator.
An E3.series data model contains all required information for the mechanical processing of control cabinets and wire harnesses. This includes data outputs for
With a range of ready-to-use add-on modules such as E3.AssemblingCockpit, E3.WiringCockpit and E3.Wiring-Checks, data generated in E3.series can be used to provide assistance with the assembly and wiring of machinery and industrial facilities.
With E3.WiringDiagramGenerator circuit and wiring diagrams can be generated from connection lists. Imported diagram can be edited with E3.cable. Functions include deleting and automatically re-routing connections, as well as system and subsystem modifications. All changes can be displayed and highlighted optionally. E3.WiringDiagramGenerator can also be used to migrate and create standardised diagrams from legacy systems.
In the development of electrical and electronic systems, sketches are often drawn at the beginning of a project in order to define the functionality and the communication channels between the individual modules – this is typically referred to as functional design. E3.FunctionalDesign supports the development of initial functional sketches, which can be used as the basis for detailed wiring and fluid plans
Topology sheets created at any scale can be added to the overall E3.series project. The sheets can represent the chassis of a vehicle or the floor plan of a production line. Installation spaces such as a dashboard or control panels can be added to the sheets. The connections between these installation spaces are subsequently represented as cable harnesses or as cable ducts. Alternative views of logical units of the same project can be easily inserted into the corresponding areas.
With E3.HarnessAnalyzer, E3.series provides a powerful tool for viewing and analysing wire harness drawings in the automotive industry standard KBL and VEC formats. A major benefit of E3.HarnessAnalyzer is the possibility to manage module-based configurations for customer-specific wire harnesses (KSK).
E3.WiringSystemLab enables the knowledge-based determination of weight and cost enabled by models developed by Zuken using AI-methodologies. Different variants and configurations can be represented within one single project. A powerful analysis and compare functionality helps engineers determine the most suitable solution in a minimum of time.
Connection information can be automatically transformed into schematic representations for service applications using the E3.ConnectivityBrowser. As the digital connectivity model is used directly, the representation can be generated according to the individual needs of different users and use cases, allowing complex contexts to be visualised “on-the-fly” in an easily understandable and manner.
E3.Saber Frameway integrates Synopsys’ Saber simulator with E3.series. This enables design engineers to create right-first-time robust wire harness and fluid designs, helping them address growing project complexity and time/quality constraints through early access to virtual prototyping results. The solution provides direct integration for the multi-domain simulation of cables, wire harnesses, hydraulics and pneumatics with the Synopsys’ Saber® Simulator. In addition to the benefits for the design engineer, the E3.Saber Frameway will also save time for specialist simulation engineers.
E3.cable extends the functionality of E3.schematic enabling individual conductors to be combined together in the design to form cables and harnesses.
E3.panel allows engineers to layout components inside panel enclosures in both 3D and 2D. Intelligent automatic snapping points allow parts to be easily placed in their correct location. Clashes can be prevented with keep-out and height restrictions.
A survey of 163 companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland about the challenges and methods applied to the design and management of electrical and electronic systems and assemblies
This webinar covers the logical part of the wire harness design process consisting of creating the wiring diagram and the topology design.
This webinar follows our first webinar “Wire Harness Design Automation Basics I” where we have seen the logical part of the design process. Now we will look at the physical part of the wire harness design process.
E3.series 365 provides time-based licensing models for time-critical engineering projects in a locally distributed work environment
E3.AssemblingCockpit, E3.WiringCockpit and E3.WiringChecks provide operators on the shop floor with all information required for assembling, wiring, and start-up checks in a paperless form via portable terminals.
E3.series 2020 delivers significant enhancements for tabular editing, document embedding, and 3D PDF support
Feumotech’s fire trucks are custom made and highly specialized. This usually equals immense development efforts. By using Zuken’s E3.series electrical engineering software, the Swiss manufacturer was able to significantly reduce the development effort per vehicle. At the same time, they were able to increase the quality of their electrical design documentation.
Due to the pandemic, the annual SPS automation trade fair will not take place physically. However, there will be an online-alternative: the SPS Connect, starting on the same day.
Assembling a wire harness is a complex process. Zuken, in concert with our customers and partners, is tirelessly working to simplify the harness manufacturing process. As a matter of fact, the common theme in most customer requirements is to reduce the gap between quoting and delivering the project. Seeing that, Zuken’s primary goal with Harness Builder for E3.series is to empower harness manufacturers to achieve their goals.
An immature design or manufacturing process leads to excess complexity. Smart manufacturing options driven by intelligent design solutions provide a repeatable and efficient path to simplify manufacturing processes.
Taras Wallace joined Zuken in 2019, having come from a mechanical background. Based in Deptford, New Jersey, USA, Taras recently took some time to sit with me and chat about his experiences here.
The best and the most exciting part of what’s new in E3.series 2020 is hands-down the sheer breadth of topics. E3.series 2020 is the best release yet!