EPLAN 2.5 Launches

EPLAN Software & Services LLC has launched version 2.5 of its EPLAN Platform technology and associated applications. Key enhancements in version 2.5, according to the company, include faster template creation, simplified standardization and a new navigator functionality that facilitates the creation and editing of electrical and fluid power engineering macros. Additionally, the company has expanded the terminal editor and streamlined cable planning for machines and plants with the FieldSys module in version 2.5 of the EPLAN Electric P8 electrical planning and engineering application. EPLAN also announced major enhancements in version 2.5 of the EPLAN Harness proD application for the 3D design and documentation of wire harnesses and for nailboard design.

The EPLAN Platform connects EPLAN solutions to one another. It provides all the applications with the same basic data and functions as well as eliminates manual data reconciliation, which improves project quality and accelerates engineering processes, according to the company. The EPLAN Solutions Suite includes applications for control cabinet and switchgear engineering, electrical engineering, fluid power engineering, mechatronics and PCT engineering as well as applications for engineering configuration and ERP/PDM integration. With the EPLAN Data Portal Web service built into the EPLAN Platform, users can access device data from numerous component manufacturers and drag and drop the data into their EPLAN documents.

Version 2.5 of the EPLAN Platform now offers page- and area-specific revision management. Users can revise project areas such as functional structures, location definitions and disciplines independently, meaning that changes remain transparent throughout the entire process and for all project participants at all times.

With EPLAN Version 2.5, users can work on macros in a tree diagram or within a table with multiple selections. Macro variants and different types of representations can also be viewed in context. Image courtesy of EPLAN Software & Services LLC.

With its variant and placeholder technology, EPLAN’s macro capabilities enable users to add partial circuits to an overall project. The new macro navigator functionality in EPLAN 2.5 facilitates management of the design process by enabling macros to be worked on in a tree diagram or within a table – even in multiple selections. Additionally, macro variants and different representation types can be more easily viewed in context, according to the company. Version 2.5 also allows management of multiple names for each macro, reducing the need to create article-specific macros since one macro can now be used for several parts.

The enhanced terminal editor feature in EPLAN Platform Version 2.5 provides a graphical representation of terminal types and categories enabling fast and clear validation of selected terminal strips. If changes become necessary, these can be done within the terminal editor, and parts and components can also be entered or changed in the editor directly. Terminals can also be sorted along terminal strips via drag and drop.

Enhancements to EPLAN Platform Version 2.5 enable users to quickly validate terminal strips with use of the graphic representation of terminals types and terminal categories. Image courtesy of EPLAN Software & Services LLC.

Users can save representations of the information in the terminal editor as schematics, which, says EPLAN, allows them to switch to and access the most important information quickly. This, adds the company, results in convenient and simple centralized management of terminal strips with predictable and validated results for the terminals and terminal layout diagrams.

Additional features of EPLAN 2.5 include added single-line functionality for cable routing for machines and plants. The company says that before the assembly team can map out cables, the cables must be planned and comprehensively documented, normally using a single-line diagram. Using the single-line functionality, users can complete single-pole wiring plans and send this information to the optional EPLAN FieldSys add-on module. This allows the definition of exact cable paths and cable lengths.

EPLAN Harness proD aims to provide electrical engineers a user-friendly 3D system for wire harness design. A major highlight of version 2.5 is the coupling of the 3D wire harness engineering system to the EPLAN Platform’s central parts management capabilities. EPLAN explains that this provides users with a single, integrated parts management system that they can access over the entire course of a project, reducing the effort in maintaining master databases and enabling continuous workflows from schematics through to production documentation, says the company. EPLAN adds that master data workflows have been optimized through the derivation of 2D symbols from existing 3D data.

In version 2.5, EPLAN Harness proD’s master data workflows now support the extrapolation of 2D symbols for nailboard drawings from existing 3D models. Image courtesy of EPLAN Software & Services LLC.

Version 2.5 of EPLAN Harness proD also includes such new features as the fixing of a 3D object’s positioning, the option to position the starting point of a new bundle in a wire harness into existing bundles and automatic cable routing. Wire colors can now be displayed in the connector symbol on the nailboard. This, explains the company, means that Production can use the drawing to identify the correct positioning of a wire at a connector without searching wire lists for the necessary information.

EPLAN Harness proD’s nailboard capabilities now feature the ability to separate “data layers” and “display layers,” which means that a drawing can be viewed in different display configurations without changing the data. Batch processing of updates has been added to the project management functionality of EPLAN Harness proD. Other new features include automated updating of library parts and additional support for new CAD formats.

For more information on version 2.5 of the EPLAN Platform, go here.

Go here for further details on EPLAN Harness proD Version 2.5.

Go here to sign up for a 30-day EPLAN trial CD.

View the on-demand webinar “EPLAN Platform Version 2.5 Highlights.”

See why DE‘s editors selected EPLAN Platform Version 2.5 as their Pick of the Week.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.