Pipes & Tubes

SolidWorks® Routing software helps automate the design of routed systems, including electrical cabling and harness systems, along with tubing and piping systems. Working inside SolidWorks 3D mechanical design software, the SolidWorks Routing add-in application provides powerful 3D parametric routed systems design tools and a valuable fitting and electrical connector library that enable you to develop varying types of routes quickly and easily.

These designs traditionally relied on hard prototypes to be created so that the path and details of electrical cable and harnesses could be determined. SolidWorks Routing enables the designers to develop these designs before any hard prototypes are created. This helps accommodate customer demand for clean-looking, compact, tightly packaged products and competitive pressures to shorten design cycles, reduce development costs, improve product quality, and accelerate time-to-market.

Using SolidWorks Routing software for 3D routed system design has many ad vantages over traditional 2D approaches, including:

• Faster product design – SolidWorks Routing software streamlines routing design tasks by enabling you to create then edit routes in the 3D product model, as opposed to working with hard prototypes.
• Quick, easy parametric design changes – Because SolidWorks Routing software is parametric, associative, and fully integrated with the base SolidWorks 3D model, making design changes becomes a fast and simple process.For example, changes to the overall product dimensions will automatically adjust cable/harness and wire lengths, saving you time while maintaining design intent.
• Flexible, time-saving assembly design – SolidWorks provides the flexibility to design assemblies using either top-down or bottom-up approaches. For example, you can create all of the parts for an assembly first, then assemble them; or design just the major parts of an assembly then create other necessary parts for the system, including electrical cable routes, as you refine the design.
• Improved product design visualization – The ability to visualize how your electrical routes integrate with your product enables you to check your design from any angle, identify potential issues, and resolve problems early in the design cycle. Unlike traditional 2D wiring diagrams alone, 3D routed systems designs provide the opportunity to view the entire product from any angle before it is built. Using photorealistic rendering techniques, you can specify the look and texture of materials, backgrounds, and bases, and create animations, including product rotations and disassemblies.
  Interference detection – SolidWorks enables you to check for interferences between parts and assemblies, including routed system components, before manufacturing a single part.
• Automatic drawing and documentation creation – SolidWorks automatically generates 2D engineering drawings, including nail board drawings and connector wiring instructions for electrical cables and harnesses to guide manufacturing.
• Automatic bill of material (BOM) creation – SolidWorks can generate a BOM automatically for all items in the electrical cable or harness design, such as wire lengths or total electrical terminal requirements, and locates this information on the drawing.