Panel design wizard

The wizard opens with the Add › Panel design wizard… command. The steps are on the left, the settings of the step in the middle and the preview on the right. The preview has three tabs: 3D, Front view and Interior view. The panel is recalculated after every change; the bar at the bottom shows the outer size, the number of devices, the rail fill, the power loss and the internal temperature.

The devices are the panel components objects of the library and are drawn at their real size.

The Equipment brand is General, Siemens or ABB. The selected brand is the default for the devices that the circuits add automatically: a device with a counterpart is placed as that brand’s library object, and one without a counterpart stays General. You can change each device individually with a right-click and Change….

There are 11 ready-made starts, such as a small PLC panel, a pump station, an MCC, a sub-distribution board, a power factor correction panel, an operator desk, a field junction box and push-button enclosures. Choosing one fills all settings with the example; you change them in the next steps. The electrical data are the supply system, control voltage, rated current, short-circuit rating and protection class.

In a floor-standing panel the sections are ordered from left to right: up to 12 sections, a section width of 300 – 1200 mm and a height of 1800 – 2400 mm. A section of 1000 mm or more has a double door; for a single door the hinge is set on the left or right. The plinth, the color and, for an MCC, the top busbar compartment are in this step too. A wall-mounted enclosure, a desk and a junction box are entered with their own dimensions.

In the Door devices step you add ready-made groups (such as motor control, emergency stop and reset, Hand-0-Auto) or a single device from the catalog. Arrange this door automatically places the devices row by row; in the Front view you drag them to any place on a 5 mm grid. If a start button is red or a stop button is green, the wizard warns according to IEC 60204-1.

A circuit adds all the devices it needs at once: protection, a contactor or drive, terminals and, if wanted, the control on the door.

• Motor: direct-on-line, star-delta, frequency inverter or soft starter; with quantity and power.
• PLC system: CPU, modules, interface relays and terminals from the I/O count.
• Distribution outputs, power factor correction and energy metering.

The Additional devices tab is a single catalog: 126 panel devices in 9 function categories. General, Siemens and ABB objects are in the same list; the Source filter shows only one of them. On the Basic equipment tab, common devices such as the main switch, surge protection, phase monitoring relay and 24 V DC power supply are turned on and off.

The Interior layout step sets the size and position of the cable ducts, the rail profile (35 × 7.5 or 35 × 15), the clearance between devices and ducts and the cable entry area at the bottom. Devices are arranged from top to bottom in category order (incomer, distribution, PLC, relays, motors); the terminals are at the bottom of the section. The Layout step shows the fill of every rail.

The Interior view is an editor in every step:

• Drag a device: slide it along the same rail, or drop it on another rail or section. The device you drop stays fixed, and the others flow into the free spaces.
• Drag a rail by its handle to change the rail spacing, and by its ends to change its length.
• Right-click menu: delete, duplicate, copy, paste, change, properties, align; add or delete on a rail and in a duct.
• The arrow keys move by 1 mm, with Shift by 10 mm. Undo and redo keep up to 200 steps.

The Climate control step calculates the internal temperature of the panel with the effective surface method of IEC TR 60890. You enter the ambient temperature, the highest and lowest temperature wanted inside the panel, the enclosure material and the diversity factor. There are seven installation types: standalone or within a row, against a wall or free-standing.

The result cards show the total loss, the effective surface, the internal temperature without cooling and the required air flow. The wizard recommends a filter fan, an air conditioner or a heater and a thermostat; you choose Apply recommendation, Choose manually or No climate control. You can change the typical power losses in the loss table according to the manufacturer’s catalog. The values are for preliminary sizing.

The Summary step holds the panel, electrical, equipment and heat cards, the warnings and the bill of materials. The button next to a warning takes you to the step concerned. The bill of materials is divided into groups with item, code, description, quantity and note columns; for a brand object it shows the brand and series, not an order number. Export to Excel writes a file with three sheets: bill of materials, panel data and heat calculation.

Create adds the selected outputs to the project as a single undo step:

• 3D scene: the panel and all devices at real size; if wanted with the doors open and a wall behind it.
• 2D view page: front and interior views, dimensions and a title block (1 mm = 1 pixel).
• 2D bill of materials page.

The design is kept in the project. When the wizard is opened again it continues with the last design; you switch to another design or a new one in the Design list at the top. Save draft keeps it without creating pages. When you create again, only the objects built by the wizard change; objects you added by hand stay. The created objects are ordinary library objects: you can bind their states and the open state of the door to tags.

• A device that does not fit is listed as an error; the wizard suggests adding a section or reducing the spare space. If you create without solving it, the device is not placed in the scene but stays in the bill of materials.
• Power losses and dimensions are typical values; check them in the manufacturer’s catalog before ordering.
• The wizard does not produce a circuit diagram, a cable list or a type test document.