Zuken’s E3.series 2021 looks to increase user efficiency

Zuken has announced the E3.series 2021 release which focuses on increasing user efficiency through extended functionality in connector handling, 3D control cabinet design and component database as well as API extensions.

The enhancements, many of which were initiated as part of joint projects with major global E3.series customers, have been designed to make electrical and fluid engineering more intuitive and so faster, easier, and more robust.

In the areas of schematic and cabling, the 2021 release introduces additional online checks for manually plugging connectors, complementing E3.series’ automatic selection of mating connectors from the database. If a connector is assigned or modified manually, the error checking functionality now looks up eligible mating connectors in the database and issues a warning if an incompatible connector has been selected. The checks also prevent the manual connection of plug-on-plug or socket-on-socket.

Another extension in the schematics application addresses the handling of connectors with inserts, which combine several different connectors into a single complex component. These complex connectors can be defined in the E3.series database or dynamically with more control when the connector with inserts is configured in the E3.series project

In E3.panel, the 2D/3D cabinet design module of E3.series, the creation of cabinet and panel models has now been made a lot easier. The 2D and 3D graphical representations are created automatically from an imported STEP file and include the various side views from the 2D graphical representation along with the model dimensions. DXF files are no longer required.

A new highlight panel path command enables quick display of the routing path of a wire throughout the cabinet. The highlighted path is automatically displayed on all sheets and 3D views where the wire is represented. If a sheet is not open or active it is automatically opened so the user will not have to spend time searching for the required sheet. A more sophisticated control of the filling limits for cable ducts now allows a differentiated definition of the available space in the various segments of a cable duct. In this way, the automatic routing algorithm can allow for reserves for future changes or additional wires.

The output of 3D information for 3D mechanical CAD systems has been significantly enhanced by adding the JT format to the previously used STEP output. JT is a format that all commonly used MCAD systems can read. In addition to the graphical representation of cabinet or wire harness designs it also supports the export of the content of the cabinet or mounting plate, including all devices, mounting rails, cable ducts, and wires.

The relationships between components and symbols in the database can now be displayed in an additional window to enable a quick and thorough overview. The new database relations window opens with a single click on a component in the database tree and displays all related information at one glance. This new display helps database admins understand the relationships between components and symbols in their database.

E3.ReportGenerator is a new module within the standard E3.series configuration. Users will be able to create individual lists from E3.series without special programming or additional software. Via a graphical user interface, the layout and the content of reports can be created quickly and easily and the output can be generated in various formats. All lists can then be loaded into E3.series sheets along with their defined layout.

All new functions and commands in E3.series 2021 are also covered in the API that is included as part of the standard E3.series configuration. This interface offers many functions to access the existing data from an E3.series project and to modify or add new data. It is used by Zuken’s E3.series add-on programs and by customers and partners who use its functionality to exchange data with an E3.series project.