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Autoconnecting enables you to logically connect circuit symbols with one another in an instant, making schematics design faster and increasing the quality of the generated schematic. Choose between a graphical, a logical or device-oriented design approach to support various work processes. Reports such as terminal and wire diagrams or bills of materials are automatically created for you to be used in downstream project phases. Thanks to its end-to-end Unicode capability, the software generates circuit diagrams and schematics in a wide variety of languages based on your customised translation databases — from schematics in Chinese to bills of materials in Russian.

The development environment offers you an efficient possibility to implement your own required functionalities or automatic functions.

With this individual customization in the core of EPLAN you can optimize your engineering workflow specifically. Use of the overall solution is thus facilitated for all participants. Processing times, planning errors and training times can be reduced. Users of other programs can use EPLAN functions and data without having to leave their original work environment.

Results are thus available faster and more economically. With our virtual walkthrough, you can experience the software for electrical engineering up close! Discover useful functions, highlights and features click by click. The new EPLAN Platform provides the technical basis for a completely new user experience: The modern operating concept makes it easy and efficient for new users to get started with the software, and also makes daily work easier for experienced users.

The optimisation of ergonomics and performance strengthen the leading position of EPLAN solutions in electrical engineering and control panel building. A Backstage view is now the central element for all project information as well as for data and file management. The new parts management offers optimal performance and easy navigation. All of this offers added value far beyond engineering — along the integrated value chain and for the entire industrial ecosystem.

Moving images explain things better! EPLAN offers you comprehensive services and support beyond our software. We are here to support you! In addition, the consultants can work with you to unlock the enormous potential for implementing integrated working processes in your company. Are you stuck? It shows you how to work in a functionally structured way and follow uniform standards.

You can also increase your engineering efficiency step by step with a solid data basis. Find out how companies use our solutions to address current technical and business developments and improve their productivity.

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The page type is generally assigned when the page is created, but it can also be changed later. The title page or cover sheet is usually the first page of a project.

What is a schematic multi-line page? A schematic multi-line page is a page for which the schematic docu- mentation has multi-line symbols.

It has special editing capabilities for the creation and analysis of schematic diagrams. For instance, symbols inserted are automatically connected with one another. What is a graphical editor? A graphical editor is the part of the program you use to create and edit schematics and mechanical drawings.

It is started when you open a page. Besides the window in which the page is displayed, the menu bar also has numerous program functions such as the Insert menu avail- able for graphical editing. The window is dockable and has its own standard Windows buttons. In a "maximized" view, the window of the editor fits into the main window in such a way that the title bar is integrated into the menu bar of the main window see also the illustration on page In the "minimized" view, the window has its own title bar.

The Page type field is automatically prepopulated with Schematic multi-line I. In the Page description field, enter the text, Power supply. Any page or structure level may be selected when you do this. Note: Based on the Beginner mode selected in the Select scope of menu dialog, you use fields that allow multilingual entries e. This function provides you with the whole word based on the letters you type in.

Only words in the dictionary will be suggested. In the tree view of the Page navigator, select the 1 Power supply page. Most property fields already have values. EPLAN accepts the properties of the selected page and automatically suggests the next free page for the Full page name. Click on [Clear fields]. The contents of some properties fields such as the Page de- scription field are deleted. The automatically suggested Full page name and the prepopulated Page type are kept.

Next to the Page type field, click the [ The Add page type dialog opens. In the Page description field, enter the text Cover sheet. For the Form name property, click in the Value field next to it, and then click the button that appears. No value needs to be entered for the Plot frame name property. The plot frame used for a page is already predefined in the project settings.

The other displayed properties, Scale and Grid, are already prepopulated with correct entries. The cover sheet is shown in the tree view of the Page navigator and opened in the Graphical editor. Then, in the Page type field, select the entry, Schematic multi-line I , and in the Page description field enter the text, Control ET1. Now you have created the pages you need for editing the schematic. Closing a page Since you don't immediately need the second schematic page, close it again. The page 3 Control ET1 is closed.

In the tree view of the Page navigator, select the page 2 Cover sheet. The cover sheet of the project is shown. This is the case, if in the View menu, you activated the menu item Workbook. In the Page navigator, you can recognize the opened page from the fact that the page name and description 2 Cover sheet are now in bold. Tip: To open a page selected in the Page navigator, you can also double- click on the page or press the [Enter] key.

Open the page 1 in the same way. This will automatically close the first page and display the empty schematic in the Graphical editor. For instance, select page 2 again, then from the popup menu of the Page navigator select the menu item Open in new window. For every opened page, a tab is shown below the graphical editor window. You can quickly switch between pages by clicking these tabs.

The pages created, however, don't yet have struc- ture identifiers. In the following section, we describe how you can assign the identifier by editing the page properties. In the tree view of the Page navigator, select the cover sheet page 2 Cover sheet.

The Page properties dialog opens. Change the value in the Full page name field. Here, you can enter the structure identifier and the name of the page e. Enter the value ANL in the Higher-level function field. Enter the value DBT in the Mounting location field.

In the Page name field, change the entry from 2 to 1. The Full page name dialog is closed. The structure identifiers are accepted for the field of the same name in the Page properties dia- log.

In the Page properties dialog, click [OK]. For the "Higher-level function" structure iden- tifier level with the identifier ANL, the icon will be used; and for the "Mounting location" level with the identifier DBT, the icon will be used. Repeat this action for the schematic page page 1 and 3. In the Full page name dialog, as the structure identifier for the Higher-level func- tion, enter the designation ANL again.

For the Mounting location, enter the designation SCP for the schematic pages. And for the second sche- matic page, in the Page name field, change the entry from 3 to 2. Now all pages in the project have structure identifiers. You may first have to enlarge the Page navigator window a little before you can read all the page descriptions. Note: If you have made a change during page editing for instance, changed page properties, inserted graphical elements, etc.

There is no separate save necessary, and so there is no corresponding menu item in the program! You will also learn how to open and close a project, and you will learn a few basic com- mands for viewing and editing a project.

Opening a Project 1. The Open project dialog opens. Here, the projects are shown which are located in your predefined project directory by default. Click [Open]. The page description is displayed in the Page navigator. Then repeat this for the plus sign in front of the structure level CA1, then for the next to the structure level EAA. The first section of the tree is opened. The pages are now dis- played in the "lowest" project level.

First, page through the pages of this extensive project. The currently selected level in the tree view will be opened or closed. A minus sign before a level indicates that the level is already open.

For instance, if you want to show all the pages of a project in the tree at once, then select the closed level with the project name, and press the [X] key on the numeric block of your keyboard. For a larger project, this process can take some time. Paging Through the Project Pages Using the appropriate program functions, you can look at the pages of a project one after the other in the Graphical editor.

Repeat this action a few times and look at the contents of the pages in the Graphical editor. The pages are shown one after another in the Graphical editor. If the tree structure in the Page navigator was not yet completely opened, this will be done while paging through the pages.

The page name and the description of the currently opened page are high- lighted in bold in the Page navigator. Page back a few pages, too. However, if your cursor is located in the Page navigator, the keys will not page through the pages but will cause the cursor to jump to the bottom or top page shown in the tree view.

Turning on the grid display A glance at the two menu items View and Options will show you that in EPLAN there are numerous program functions which make it easier for you to draw schematics. You can work with a grid to make the positioning of elements easier. By default, in the Options menu, the menu item Snap to grid is activated. If this option is activated, the graphical elements and symbols are posi- tioned directly on the grid points of the grid during the drawing process.

The size of the grid used is stored as a page property. In the graphical editor, you can modify the grid size set by default to the respective page type. Using the to buttons in the View toolbar, you can switch be- tween five different grids, for which different grid sizes have been stored in the user settings. Please keep the Snap to grid option activated during the subsequent schematic generation and use Grid C with the default grid size 4.

The grid size used is displayed in the status bar. The "ON" or "OFF" text in the status bar in front of the grid size indicates whether the snap to grid is activated or not see example regarding status bar on page The use of grid snap is independent of the grid display options. If this view bothers you later when creating the schematic, then turn the grid display off in the same way.

For schematic editing, it is often a good idea to enlarge a certain screen segment in order to be able to see details better. For instance, you can use the "window zoom" in order to show a certain window segment in an enlarged view. In addition to the mouse pointer, a magnifying glass will also be displayed.

Left-click the mouse in the upper left corner of the schematic, and use the mouse to open an area which includes about a quarter of the schematic page. The area to be enlarged is outlined with a thick frame while it is being selected.

Click the left mouse button again. The selected area is displayed at maximum size. By de- fault, during scrolling the mouse wheel acts in the same way you are familiar with from other CAD programs. In the settings, you also have the option of changing the scrolling behavior so that it matches the behavior of text editing programs. In this case, when you scroll with the mouse wheel, the visible section of the page is moved upwards or down- wards.

Move the mouse pointer onto the element with the designation -Q1. The element is displayed in a different color. Below the symbol, a small text window Tooltip is displayed with information about the element. Select the element by clicking on it. The color of the element changes again. The element -Q1 is completely deleted. You can, however, use the Undo command to reinsert the element. Note: When editing elements in the Graphical editor, besides the usual Win- dows operating methods first select elements, then call command , in most cases the reverse order of operation first call the command, then select elements is also supported.

Practice this once for the element -Q1 you just inserted. In addition to the mouse pointer, two other symbols are also dis- played. The box with the red X is the symbol assigned to the delete function, and the box with the dashed line stands for the area to be selected.

Left-click the mouse button on the upper left of the element, and use the mouse to drag a frame around -Q1. The element -Q1 is removed. Closing a Project 1. If your cursor is in the Page navigator, then the project for which you have selected one or more pages is closed.

Note: Please note that the menu item Close in the popup menu Page naviga- tor only closes the page currently located in the foreground. Tip: In the Project menu, beneath the menu item Print, a list of the last projects opened is displayed. You can use this list to open a corres- ponding project without needing to use the menu item Open. You have just closed the demo project.

EPLAN opens the demo project again. After it opens, practice closing it again. Now that you have looked at the complicated demo project in this chapter, in the next two main sections you will create a much "simpler" schematic.

By default, symbols do not contain any logical data. These are generally stored in the functions. What is a component? A component is a graphical element for the representation of a function. It consists of the function and symbol. The function contains the logical data and the symbol contains the graphical data.

A component has a device tag, connection point designations, and so on. What are devices? Devices are logical electronic or fluid-technical units that work together. What are coordinate systems? Depending on the page type, a certain coordinate system will be the default. On electrical engineering schematic pages, the coordinate system is of the type, Electrical engineering.

This has its origin in the upper left corner of the drawing surface. The coordinates are indicated in grid increments RX and RY and displayed in the status bar. Angles and other elements T-nodes, interruption points, etc. The angle hangs on the cursor. The Coordinate input dialog opens. In the Current cursor position group box, for X: enter 10 and for Y: enter The Coordinate input dialog is closed. The current cursor position is also shown in the bottom left corner of the status bar.

You can immediately insert more angles. Tip: To call the Coordinate input quickly, you can also press the [P] key. This kind of determination of insertion coordinates is not absolutely necessary when editing your own schematics. To do this when inserting — as described above — you can use Coordinate input or position the elements at the given coordinates using the mouse or the cursor keys.

If you use the Coordinate input dialog to do this, each element is directly placed after confirming the coordinates with [OK]. If you position the element using the mouse or keyboard, then after positioning you must still left click or press [Enter] in order to place the element on the page. The grid size for pages of the type, Schematic multi-line, has a default of "4. If, for example, in the Page properties you changed the default Grid from "4.

Once the connection points of two angle symbols are directly horizontally or vertically aligned in the schematic, they are automatically connected with a connection line. This is called "autoconnecting", in which the con- nection lines created this way are called "autoconnect lines". Only these autoconnect lines are recognized and reported as electrical connections between symbols.

Autoconnecting is always performed if the connection points of two symbols are aligned horizontally or vertically. When insert- ing and moving symbols, a preview of the autoconnect lines is shown.

Inserting Potential Connection Points The potentials in the schematic can be defined by potential connection points. The symbol for the potential connection point hangs on the mouse pointer. The Properties components : Potential connection point opens. On the Potential definition tab in the properties dialog, for the Name of potential, enter the value L1.

In the Properties group box for the Potential type, select the value L from the dropdown list. The properties dialog is then closed. You can immediately insert more potential connection points. After the symbols are placed, a different symbol variant must be selected in the properties dialog. Tip: If there are different variants of a symbol such as for a potential connec- tion point , then you already have several possibilities during positioning to select between the different variants.

For instance, if the symbol is hanging on the mouse pointer, you can press the [Ctrl] key and move the cursor in a circle. The various variants are displayed. Once you have decided on a variant, first release the [Ctrl] key, then click the left mouse button to place the symbol. A different way to page between the variants available consists of pressing the [Tab] key while inserting. For each direction, there are then four variants. The T-node hangs on the mouse pointer.

The insertion points of all placed schematic elements are shown in the schematic as "black squares". Double-click on the insertion point of the T-node. The T-node right dialog opens. Here, select the option 1st target below, 2nd target right. No variant selection is necessary. Alternatively, you can select the respective object and select the Properties menu item in the popup menu. Drawing rectangles 1. The rectangle hangs on the mouse pointer. Click the left mouse button to determine the starting point of the rectangle.

Note: When inserting graphical elements, a small text window for inputting numbers is displayed on the cursor by default. This text window is called the "input box". The values entered in the input box relate to the graphical coordinate system with its origin at the bottom-left and which is reported in "mm" or "inch", according to the preset displayed measuring unit.

If the Input box function is enabled in the Options menu, you can use the input box, for example, to position graphical elements quickly and precisely on graphical pages. On such pages, the graphical coordinate system is preset. The symbol for the line hangs on the mouse pointer. Click the left mouse button to determine the starting point of the first line of the rectangle. To "visually" highlight the action line, change the formatting properties of the lines inserted.

Double-click, for instance, on the "PE" line the first line. The Properties dialog opens. In the Properties dialog, switch to the Format tab. Change the settings here. Repeat this action for the second action line. To differentiate the lines, select different formatting properties e. Selecting a symbol In Symbol selection, you can select symbols from a tree or list view.

In the tree view, symbols are divided neatly into different groups based on their function definitions. Here, you can page through the different groups until you find the symbol you want. Example: The following illustration shows symbol selection through the tree view for the first device to be inserted. On the right side in the dialog, the Symbol selection presents you with a preview. Once you have selected the de- sired symbol in the preview, you can then accept it with a double-click.

For the sample project, we are using a symbol selection from the list view. You can also select a symbol very quickly using direct entry in the list view. Note: The symbol selection via direct entry described below works only if you leave the columns of the list configured so that the name of the symbol is in the first column. The Symbol selection dialog is opened. In the Symbol selection dialog, select the List tab. To reduce the number of symbols shown, select a filter now.

To do this, from the Filter drop-down list, apply the IEC symbols, multi- line entry. Select the Active check box to activate the filter settings.

The various symbols are managed in so-called "symbol libraries". In the Direct entry field, enter Q1. After you enter the first character, the cursor jumps to the first symbol whose name begins with that character, and selects it. The selected symbol is displayed in the preview window on the right side, with all existing variants. The first variant of each is se- lected in the preview window.

The symbol will also be displayed in the Graphical preview. In the list, select the three-pole switch Q1 and click [OK]. The symbol hangs on the mouse pointer and can be placed on the current page in the Graphical editor. Determining properties After placing the switch on the page, the Properties components dialog opens. Some fields are already prepopulated with entries. This behavior is called "online numbering". The fields Displayed DT, Connection point designation, and Connection point description are already prepopulated with entries.

Enter the value 16A into the Technical characteristics field. In the Function text field, enter the text Load interrupter. In the schematic, you also see the connection point designations entered and the function text.

Tip: To call up Symbol selection quickly, you can also use the [Insert] key or the button Symbol in the Symbols toolbar. Inserting other general devices Proceed in the same fashion as above for the components listed below. In the list view, select Symbol selection using direct entry. To do this, enter the symbol name given below for each one, and leave the IEC symbols, multi-line filter filter activated.

Before you can then select a different symbol, you must finish the action and then call Symbol selection again. Position the symbols on the given coordinates and fill in the properties of the components inserted, if necessary. The entries of the prepopulated properties are given in parentheses in the following listing.

Symbol description Entries 1. You can also select the menu item Line break from the popup menu. Symbol description Entries 4. K1, and don't enter any device tag there. Symbol description Entries 9. As Name of potential and Potential type, you must enter PE.

Inserting Terminal Strips and Terminals Terminals are a kind of device and, like general devices, can only be inserted into your schematic using symbol selection. If you haven't yet, activate the Filter IEC symbols, multi-line.

In the Direct entry field, enter X. In the list, select the terminal X and click [OK]. The terminal symbol hangs on the mouse pointer and can be placed on the current page in the Graphical editor.

The Properties components : Terminals dialog opens. Here is where you determine the properties of the terminals. Terminals are also automatically numbered by default. This way, you can store the terminal parts on the individual terminals. For this purpose, the Main terminal check box is activated in the prop- erty dialog. Next, you must modify the function definition of the inserted terminal.

The function definition defines the standard behavior of a function. The terminal symbols are initially inserted with a general function definition. You can then decide later on the specific terminal N ter- minal, PE terminal, etc. For this purpose, click the [ The Function definitions dialog opens.

Here, in the tree of the Selection field, select the function definition Terminal with saddle jumper, 2 connection points. The Function definitions dialog is closed. In the Properties components : Terminals dialog, also click [OK]. The terminal with the displayed DT —X1 is placed in the schematic. For the first two terminals, you can accept the predefined terminal designations 2 and 3, but for the last terminal change the designation to PE.

Modify the function defini- tions for all terminals. For the first two terminals -X and -X , also select the function definition Terminal with saddle jumper, 2 connection points, and for the PE terminal -X the function definition PE terminal with rail contact, 2 connection points.

Finish the action by selecting the menu item Cancel action from the popup menu. The terminal strip definition identifies the terminal strip and contains all the relevant data for the terminal strip as well as the terminal strip part information. The symbol for the terminal strip definition hangs on the mouse pointer. The Properties components : Terminal strip definition dialog opens. Due to the automatic numbering, the field Displayed DT is already prepopulated with the entry —X2.

In the Displayed DT field on the Terminal strip definition tab, enter the strip designation -X1 already assigned in the schematic. In the Function text field, enter the text Motor, 4 connection points. The terminal strip definition is inserted at the given coordinates. The cable definition line must cross the corresponding connections. The symbol for the cable definition line hangs on the mouse pointer.

Click with the left mouse button to establish the starting point of the line. The Properties components : Cable dialog opens. Due to the automatic numbering, the field Displayed DT is already prepopu- lated with the entry —W1. In the Function text field, enter the text Motor.

In the fields No. From the drop-down list for the Unit field, select the entry mm2. In the schematic, the cable definition line with the displayed DT —W1 is shown along with the data entered.

When drawing the cable definition line, a connection definition point is automatically set at each intersection of connections with the cable defi- nition line. The cable conductors are determined via the connection defi- nition points.

You will only see these automatically generated connection definition points if you have activated the view of insertion points. For certain actions e. In doing this, new connections are generated based on the available information or existing connections are updated. The individual connection can get its data from project settings, potentials, or from a connection definition point. Since the connection data is not automatically updated for each action, we recommend manually updating before certain actions such as the execution of check runs, or working in navigator dialogs.

EPLAN updates all connections in the project. If the check box is not activated, updating is only carried for the current selection of pages, functions, etc. If no other function text is entered for a component, the function text from the path will be used for reports e. The Properties - Path function text dialog opens.

On the Text tab, enter the term, Power supply. The path function text hangs on the mouse pointer. Click the left mouse button to place the text in the desired path. Note: Be sure when inserting path function texts that the insertion point of the text is aligned with the insertion point of the component which should receive the path function text. Inserting "Interruption Point" Connection Symbols 1. The interruption point symbol hangs on the mouse pointer.

Hold [Ctrl] and then move the cursor in a circle. The different variants are displayed. Select the variant with the arrow pointing downwards Variant D , and release the [Ctrl] key. The Properties components : Interruption point dialog opens. The interruption point is inserted at the given coordinates.

Now you must insert two more action lines. Assign this "PE" line the same formatting properties you assigned to the first "PE" line. Change the formatting properties for this line, too. For instance, select a different line thickness and a different line type.

Next, you will also insert components on the second schematic page, thus generating cross-references. In this chapter, you will complete the schematic on the second page, thus generating cross-references.

EPLAN differentiates between different types of cross-reference. The program automatically inserts most of these cross-reference automati- cally online.