The scheme is created from construction elements like wire, symbols and terminals. Schematics can be created as well as wiring line diagrams or without them.
Wire Management
You can create the required styles of wires in DesignSpark Electrical. They are defined in the Wire style manager under the Project menu.
You can add new wires by clicking Add or Multiple add icons, depending on the type of wire (single wire or multiple wire) you want to add.
The Properties icon allows you to change the wire configuration.
You have two commands under Schematic menu to draw wires in the scheme.
Draw multiple wire: used to draw a power type wire (E.g. Phases +Neutral +Protection or just Phases)
Draw single wire: used to draw a single wire with one or more conductors
After you click on the draw wires command, the side panel changes to display the drawing options.
Click on the […] button to go to Wire style selector and select a wire style to define as the current style.
You can specify the distance between 2 conductors if your wire is composed of a minimum of 2 conductors. It is 5mm by default.
Select the conductors you want to put on the wire by checking the boxes under Available wires.
Click on the first point on the wire in the graphic zone. The side panel changes again to display other options:
- Conductor inversion ([Space] key)
- Add bend to drawing ([C] key on keyboard])
- Deactivation of orthogonal mode ([F8] key)
Click on the second point on the wire. Press [Esc] key or right click to stop the command.
Symbols Management
A symbol is a global or partial representation of an electrical device. DesignSpark Electrical has a symbols library that meets the needs of electrical schematics drawing.
You can edit the existing symbols, import symbols and create your own symbols in the Symbols Manager under Library menu.
There are two ways to insert symbols.
By Symbols Selector
Click Insert symbol under the Schematic menu. The side panel changes to display the last symbol used.
Click the Other symbol button to select a symbol from the library.
Symbol orientation: Used to orientate the symbol according to the direction of your scheme.
Automatic marks: Used to automatically allocate the mark of the symbol you have just inserted.
By Symbols Palette
Click the Symbols tab in the side panel to open Symbol palette.
The first group in the palette is Find which allows you to search for a symbol from its description.
You can find more different groups after the Find group, such as Protections, Contactors, Command and Sensors.
To insert a symbol from the palette, you simply drag a symbol from the palette to the graphic zone or double click on the symbol.
To rotate the symbol, right click on the symbol and select Orientation.
Allocating a manufacturing part
The catalogs of leading manufacturers of electrical equipment are present in DesignSpark Electrical.
Right click on a symbol and select Symbol properties.
Click the Manufacturer part and circuits tab.
Click the Search button to open Manufacturer part selection dialog box.
You can select your preferred manufacturer from the drop down menu under Manufacturer. If you choose you can also add RS Components as the Supplier. This will be helpful if you want to go on to use the live parts pricing and availability (in V1.1 onwards) or direct online ordering functionality.
If you have not checked the Automatic refresh box, click on the Search button.
Select the part in the list of results.
Click on the [+] button to add it.
You will see that the manufacturer part has generated circuits (visible in the bottom of the dialog box). These circuits are also in symbols, and when you associate symbols with manufacturer parts, these circuits are coloured according to their status:
Associated to a symbol and a manufacturer part
Associated to a symbol only (without manufacturer part)
Associated to a manufacturer part but no corresponding symbols
Black Box Management
Black boxes can be considered as “generic” symbols. When it becomes complicated and laborious to create a symbol, or it is not used very often, you can use a black box. This is defined by a rectangle and terminals are placed at each intersection with a wire.
Click Insert black box under Schematic menu.
If the black box is placed on wires, these are automatically cut and a terminal is placed at each intersection with a wire. They have the same functions and the symbols in terms of marks, cross-references and manufacturer parts.
Right click and select Update black box if wires are subsequently superimposed on the black box.
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