AutoCAD Electrical and Inventor

[heavyCurrent]

I have a team of 3 Engineers that do all the substation designs and protective relaying drawings in the regular AutoCAD. The management just told me that the company is looking to buy AutoCAD Electrical and/or Inventor. I was told it will help to increase the productivity

Does anyone have experience with AutoCAD Electrical and Inventor? What are the pros and cons? I am very skeptical when AutoCAD claims that these tools will create wiring diagrams from the schematic drawings.

 

[IRstuff]

Perhaps you should red flag this and post in the Autocad forum?

TTFN
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[ScottyUK]

Perhaps not?

Three years ago I was at a similar decision to yourself. We bought ACadE with the expectation that it would aid us in a major switchgear replacement project, but being honest we haven't seen the hoped-for return on the investment.

If you do are designing panels then it has the potential to be good once you invest time to learn how to use it. I don't think it is as effective for the design of field interconnection wiring. If you're doing large transmission substations with a bay type arrangement then I can possibly see the merit - if you're doing smaller distribution substations with only a couple of relays then I'm rather more sceptical.

You also need to consider the users of the software: ACadE suits an engineer who wants to generate drawings as he designs the system, but if the user lacks the technical knowledge - i.e. the user is closer to being a draughtsman than an protection engineer - then stick with plain ACad.

 

[itsmoked]

Everything associated with Acad has spectacularly steep learning curves. Works OK once you've put in a couple of man months on it.

When I got it I distinctly remember struggling to draw my first line and giving up in two different sittings.

If you guys are already using it then an additional package shouldn't be too hard to use.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[ScottyUK]

Keith,

It's w-a-a-y different to normal AutoCad. It automates a lot of the actual drawing, and your input shifts to deciding on which components are selected from the library, populating I/O schedules and the like. It generates quite distinctive-looking drawings which tend to span a lot of pages but are perfectly usable. It is popular among PLC panel-builders, something which is apparent simply from the drawings they supply.

 

[itsmoked]

Sounds pretty useful.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[dpc]

If you are in the business of doing panel wiring diagrams and schematics, it could be useful, but the learning curve would be fairly steep. Also, implementing it would likely involve making significant changes to existing drawings standards and workflow.