Using SOLIDWORKS Electrical to solve our own electrical problem

Often here at Javelin Technologies we roll up our sleeves and use the software we sell and support to find solutions to our own engineering problems. We really love to take things apart as an elite team of tech heads and grease monkeys.

The Challenge: Modify an existing Electrical System to meet code

Our history for the consistent quest of pioneering new technology has led to the early adoption of 3D printers. 3D Printers are paired with high pressure water jet systems to clean the support material from a printed part. A recent challenge for us was the requirement for a European high pressure water system to pass North American electrical code. This was a challenge that we were happy to undertake.

Powerblast High Pressure Water System

Our Team:

Javelin owner/partner Ted Lee, 3D Printing guru Rob Greer, and myself, a humble Electrical Designer.

Design Time:

10-15 minutes, post 1 hour of discussion of the requirements.

The Requirements:

The team determined what the solution would be and sketched out the requirements for the updated electrical system. We then needed to translate the sketch using our intelligent electrical schematic tool, namely SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematic, so we could document the solution for the Electrical Inspector.

Hand Sketch

The Design Schematics:

The design took a few minutes because we had to document part numbers off the system directly, in a sense reverse engineer the existing system before we could modify it with the new requirements. A simple single line representation helped us with displaying an overview of the system design. We needed every detail to be represented from manufacturing parts to wire numbers and cable details. Design revisions were quick for our conversion project of IEC to ANSI. We needed to change some of the wire gauges, add new parts to the library, and use a pair of relays to satisfy the inspector’s criteria.

The Completed Solution

After a few recommendations from the inspector we were done. The new system was ready to be assembled. To complete the project we separated the electrical and placed everything in a water tight enclosure.

• Assembly Time: 2 Hours.
• Deliverable: PDF version of the schematic, BOM and other required reports.

Completed Project

Conclusion:

Solving this issue started off with a simple requirement of passing an electrical code. Eventually this turned into a collaborative effort that required SOLIDWORKS Electrical to product the documents that the inspector required.

Incidentally we figured out we could reduce the operational cost by manufacturing this locally vs. importing this assembly.

The longest part of this project was scheduling and keeping the inspector happy. Using SOLIDWORKS Electrical for the drafting was the easiest and least time consuming part of the process!