After connections have been routed, the program will know the wire ducts and routing paths through which the wires run. If the dimensions of the wire ducts and external diameters of the wires are known, the program can estimate whether the routing paths are dimensioned sufficiently large in order to accommodate all wires.
As the number of connections increases, so does also the number of wires in the wire duct increase. This can create space problems particularly in the junction area of wire ducts. The Display fill capacity function provides feedback on the space reserves in wire ducts and manual routing paths. This way, you can see where you must modify specific routes in order to force routing through less crowded routing paths even if another path would be shorter, but would result in over-allocation.
In the case of automatic routing paths (wire ducts), the cross-section available to the routed connections is calculated from the dimensions of the wire ducts involved. This cross-section can be carried over to manual routing paths if they are connected to an automatic routing path. If not, then you must enter a default value in the Cross-section routing path property. The actual fill capacity is calculated from the available cross-section of the routing paths and the cross-section that is taken up by the routed connections.
The fill capacity of wire ducts is indicated by a color identifier. In this context, three states are differentiated:
- Red: The channel / routing path is considered full.
- Yellow: The fill capacity is below the fill capacity limit, but above the alert limit.
- Green: The fill capacity is below the alert limit.
The fill capacity limit and alert limit are project settings and thus adjustable. By default, the fill capacity limit is at 80%, and the alert limit at 70%.
Note:
If connections are routed between part placements that have no connection point pattern using the By connection point position (automatic), this can produce wires that are too long and that must be placed in the wire duct in the form of a loop later during the wiring. In this case, the fill capacity calculation cannot display the actual fill capacity of a wire duct during the planning.
The procedure for the length calculation of routing connections without connection point pattern can be set via the Options > Settings > Projects > <Project name> > Routing connections > General menu items, Route tab.
- Select the menu items View > Connections > Fill Capacity.
The transparency of all wire ducts is set to 80%. The fill capacity determined is displayed by way of color surfaces on the floor of the wire duct. Transparent cuboids are generated around manual routing paths whose base color indicates the fill capacity.
Update fill capacity
After each modification to the routing path network of routed connections, the fill capacity has to be calculated again.
- Select the menu items Project data > Connections > Update fill capacity. The current fill capacity of the wire ducts and manual routing paths is calculated and indicated by color surfaces.
See also