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Wiring, Cables, Segments, and the Laws of Physics...


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I'll start by just apologizing in advance if this question seems too obvious, but I just figured I'd post my question now before I invest more time researching it. I suspect the solution is very simple, though. I merely haven't discovered it yet.

 

So as some of you already know, I'm designing a wiring harness in Autodesk Inventor 2009 (using imported data from AutoCAD Electrical 2009). The problem I'm having is that my wires, cables, and segments, all seem to pass right through solid objects/components. One of the pieces of information that'll be required in my final report will be wire lengths, and obviously the lengths will depend on wire arrangements (twisted pairs, etc), positions (in between components, etc), and routing (sharing segments with wires following similar paths, etc).

 

So I'm trying to figure out how to make it so my wires obey the laws of physics, and DO NOT pass through solid objects, such as panels, components, or other parts.

 

The following image is an example of what I'm trying to avoid. Notice the wires passing through the power supply:

 

Wires Passing Through Power Supply.JPG

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Damn... I wish I knew how to help you. I've never really played with Electrical or Inventor. Wait for Mr. JD Mather... he seems to enjoy those platforms. I could probably do what you're asking in regular 3D, but I can't help you in other programs.

 

Don't worry... someone smarter than me will be along shortly!

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I read here that you have to use the 3D move feature on segments for every single change in angle to avoid passing through solid objects or receiving geometry errors. In huge schematics, I suspect this could potentially take 100s of hours. Is there not a feature in Inventor which automatically routes wires, segments, and cables to follow the most efficient (shortest) paths between pins without passing through solid objects? Each object is its own part or model, so I don't see why it would be so difficult to program Inventor to automatically avoid geometry collisions between wires and other items.

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There are a number of folks on the forum who's answer to almost any question is "buy a copy of Inventor". I'm sure that when one of them notices your question, they will have some answers for you. They are quite skilled at using the program. Be patient, they'll turn up eventually.

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Well, if you make a segement in the C&H environment you route your wires through that and it will obey bend radius and offsets from faces, but it will not pick up on interferences unless you check for them. There are higher reasons why Inventor does this, but you can't expect the software to design for you.

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You can edit your Harness and add points to specific wires and move those points around objects. Inventor will lengthen and shorten as needed. It can be time consuming however. Perhaps bundling them into a Cable is probably the easiest method...

 

Simple Example:

 

harness1.png

 

harness2.png

 

KC

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