Javelin Technologies is aiming high with the creativity of coop students. Our electrical engineering coop Rami Eisawy, from Waterloo University, has just completed some fantastic work to help our client base by working on E3 library content; plus as a special project Rami figured out how to use Microsoft Kinect as an interface for E3.WireWorks. It only took him a few hours to map some of the Kinect interactive controls to E3.WireWorks interface tools. E3.WireWorks software has some similarities to AutoCAD Electrical, but is designed from the ground up for electrical design and has countless advantages.
Microsoft Kinect Sensor
It is of course a proof of concept at this point, but I am looking forward to the day that electrical design can be carried out in a virtual environment and gestures can be used to easily piece together a new design and document how it should be wired up. Have a look at the video below to see some of the interaction take place. Please share your comments or suggestions to help future Javelin coop students to take the concept further.
Everyone wants to be a super hero, but suiting up and fighting crime is probably not something you’ll be doing any time soon. However you can be a super hero at work, and if you are an electrical designer you can learn how to fight electrical design injustice and do your job faster with our HOW-TO Tech Tip Videos using E³.WireWorks electrical design software. So don your mask and click here to check out the HOW-TO Videos now – there is no time to lose!
Efficiency and cost cutting is the something every industry is striving to maximize. The companies and individuals who are able to achieve this goal are on the rising edge of success and growth. It feels like common sense at the end of the day in these competitive times to reduce costs and time to market. One of the growing trends to achieve these goals is “On-Machine Control Solutions “.
On-Machine Control adds efficiencies in multiple areas of the manufacturing process like Design, Maintenance, Repair, Installation and operations. A recent study by a European Consortium of Manufacturers revealed a 30% cost reduction as a result of On-Machine Control Solutions and related changes to the components used.
The common solution consists of moving the controls on to the machine or close to the application. This allows for less wiring to and from the controlled units and also reuse the segments to complete the design. On-Machine Controls has enabled manufacturers to readily provide applications once requiring customized solutions as standard offerings by easily replacing a few parts on certain machines instead of a complete redesign. Interconnecting these systems if required can be done using either networked or non-networked solutions (e.g. PLC I/O) through one or more Panels. Modular design allows for pre-manufactured local wiring with quick disconnects, reducing the total wiring in turn reducing the number of failure points.
When showing the electrical capabilities of E3.WireWorks to our customers I have had many of them ask me whether it is a suitable tool for doing other types of schematics as well. The types that are most commonly asked for are hydraulics and pneumatics but process design (P&ID) should not be excluded. A lot of the functionality that I show in electrical design carries directly over to these disciplines. Some examples include, quick connections, device naming, connection lists, bill of materials, etc.
Some of you may have seen the new SolidWorks 2011 functionality which leverages P&ID’s for automatically generating piping. You may have wondered where these P&ID’s come from… well, luckily E3.WireWorks has stepped up to the plate and has programmed a way to generate them based on the automatic connection list (look for that in future postings).
One of the things that really makes E3.WireWorks stand out is how good of job it does with having all of these disciplines in a single project. I have created a quick video to describe how this behaves so have a look and let me know what you think or if you have suggestions for future content:
