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The ServoSoft v2.8 release includes a design aid titled, “Guidelines for Sizing Cables, Filters and Fuses”.

The ServoSoft v2.8 release expands its database with over 300 BandR Acopos and Acopos Multi drives and 8MS and 8LS motors, as well as an additional 736 Alpha gearboxes Several new features were also added including enhanced Pxt and Ixt overload models, bleeder duty cycle vs power charts, as well as an enhanced interface for Windows XP and Vista

The latest refinements in the infeed (Pxt) and inverter (Ixt) overload models allow for a very precise modeling of infeed and inverter overload conditions in a wide range of conditions.

The Pxt and Ixt models precisely calculate the heat rise and cooling decay equally well in sequences with quick peaks followed by long dwells, as well as in sequences with minor overloads for prolonged durations.

The Pxt and Ixt overload models are one of many features not found in any other servo system sizing and selection tool.

“Bleeder duty cycle vs power charts were also added, providing another level of detail in sizing bleeders and braking resistors”.

“This enhancement allows for the more precise sizing of engineered resistor products such as Michael Koch resistors” Christian Vardin, ServoSoft Product Manager, said.

New help file pages were also added, including a design aid titled, “Guidelines for Sizing Cables, Filters and Fuses”.

To help users get started using and understanding ServoSoft, there are several online tutorials that explore a number of ServoSoft’s features.

A 30-day Trial version is also available for download and is available in English and German.

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Longcross has been using Amtech’s FastTest and ProDesign packages for several years.

In extending its use of Amtech’s FastTest software to increase productivity, Longcross Engineering has recently purchased the 15,000th licence for this market-leading test and inspection software The event was celebrated with the presentation of champagne and a specially commissioned trophy to the company’s Testing and Commissioning Manager Tony Taylor

“Using FastTest is a quick and efficient way of producing accurate, validated test certificates and gives us around 40% time savings compared with other methods”, Taylor explained.

“The ability to print certificates onto plain paper makes the production of extensive certificates very cost-effective and there are a number of useful tools to increase productivity”.

“New users also find it very easy to use, so they’re up and running in a short space of time”, he continued.

Longcross has been using Amtech’s FastTest and ProDesign packages for several years and increasing the number of FastTest licences is proving invaluable in managing a rapidly growing portfolio of M and E contracts.

“Making smart use of technologies such as FastTest helps us to maintain high levels of service to clients across a wider range of projects”, said Operations Director Daryl Fortune.

“With prestigious clients such as Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and HM Prisons, the quality and consistency of our service is a number one priority”, he added.

Taylor’s department is responsible for verifying testing and commissioning data from all of the company’s electrical installation projects.

“FastTest takes care of a lot of the routine work and has dramatically reduced the amount of paper we have to handle”.

“This enables us to respond to customers’ needs faster and more efficiently”, he concluded.

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E.cable will allow Poclain Hydraulics to automate many time-consuming manual tasks involved in designing piping and wiring diagrams.

Poclain Hydraulics is using Zuken’s electrical design suite, E.series The international standardisation of electrical and hydraulic design will improve the company’s efficiency

Poclain Hydraulics efficiency and quality up across the world.

E.cable is a dedicated design module for electrical cable harnesses and hydraulic systems.

It will allow Poclain Hydraulics to automate many time-consuming manual tasks involved in designing piping and wiring diagrams.

This global approach will enable them to standardise their processes, while implementing a flexible solution that fits their design requirements.

Cedric Magnien, Group Application Engineering Managerat Poclain Hydraulics, said: “Previously we had a very common 2D drawing software package, not optimised for piping and wiring diagrams, but needed to improve our data organisation and adapt our tools to our growth and our international network”.

“We needed a user-friendly, efficient schematic tool that would be used by designers located in remote offices, who may not use the tool more than once per week”.

“Compatibility and interfacing with our existing workflow tools was also a must”.

“E.series met our needs and was very well accepted by the team immediately after the first demo was performed”.

“After performing a one-year comparative field test with several suppliers, this decision is for the long-term”.

“We visited all potential suppliers to compare their working methods, development procedures and customer request management”.

“We were impressed by Zuken’s high-quality products and their corporate organisation that takes into account field requirements and customer needs”, Magnien added.

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Flagship product line, p-romise, comprises intelligent, easy-to-use software that generates electrical system schematics and supporting documentation.

Bentley Systems has acquired the global business of ECT International, the leading provider of advanced computer-aided engineering design tools for electrical control systems The company’s flagship product line, p-romise, comprises intelligent, easy-to-use software that generates electrical system schematics and supporting documentation, reducing electrical design time by more than 30%

The software, in combination with MicroStation, MicroStation PowerDraft or AutoCAD, also makes the electrical design process more accurate by virtue of more than 2 million up-to-date parts in its uniquely comprehensive content repository.

Among the diversity of original equipment manufacturers, electrical systems integrators, engineering/procurement/construction (EPC) firms, suppliers and vendors of electrical system components, and facility owners designing with p-romise are ABB, Procter and Gamble, Eaton, Solar Turbines, Duke Energy, Long Island Rail Road, and Siemens.

Partner companies providing database content include Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Panduit, and Hoffman, among others.

The acquisition of p-romise complements and further extends Bentley’s comprehensive portfolio of software for the design and operation of electrical systems for process plants, factories, power generation, electric utilities, rail and transit, and more.

With p-romise, Bentley will be better able to respond to a growing need among building, plant, civil, and geospatial infrastructure professionals for more comprehensive solutions incorporating electrical wiring, diagramming, and drawing production.
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In addition, p-romise adds to Bentley’s contributions within a vendor category of rapidly growing significance for infrastructure creation - industrial solution suppliers.

These suppliers are assuming more and more of the engineering on projects as they design, configure, and fabricate modules of larger scope for assembly on site, superseding traditional piecewise specification and construction.

By doing so, they help owner-operators and EPC firms overcome professional, materials, and crafts resource shortages.
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Commenting on this latest Bentley acquisition, Bhupinder Singh, Senior Vice President, Bentley Software, said: “Automating the design of electrical control systems results in important efficiencies, leading to increased professional productivity.

But especially, Bentley user organisations have wanted automated electrical design to be fully integrated with other disciplines and workflows across the infrastructure lifecycle.

They know that this advancement would multiply, many times over, their productivity improvements.

“Bentley’s acquisition of p-romise will result in the solution they’ve been looking for.

It will enable Bentley to integrate p-romise’s functionality and extensive content repository with our comprehensive portfolio for infrastructure facility types and disciplines.

So finally, users will benefit from streamlined control system design workflows intra-operating by way of an intelligent information model.

This will provide increased efficiencies and accuracies that cut design and construction costs, shave time from delivery schedules, reduce operations and maintenance costs, and make it easier to implement ongoing system modifications - all of which enhance the creation of sustainable infrastructure”.

According to Art Sawall, founder of ECT and now Bentley Vice President: “The entire ECT team is excited about becoming Bentley colleagues and being able to offer our users the tremendous depth and reach of Bentley’s comprehensive portfolio of software and services.

Our two organisations share the common vision that open data models are the key to achieving interoperability and maximum value for users.

That foundation sets the stage for significant innovations that could not be accomplished separately”.

Rob Whitesell, Vice President, Bentley Plant, Building and Structural Development, adds:”This acquisition is particularly auspicious for plant owner and creators.

Last year, Bentley unveiled solutions that unprecedentedly span intra-operating from conceptual design through detailed engineering to lifecycle data management.

With this breakthrough, users benefit from bidirectional workflows that allow them to iterate from simulation to process and instrumentation diagrams, to economically near-optimum instrumentation and pipe routing, to pipe stress analysis, all interactively.

Our acquisition of p-romise enables us to soon add to this workflow electrical control system design - supporting drawing takeoffs from the p-romise intelligent database.

This will extend our commitment to comprehensive intra-operations by providing automation for instrumentation and electrical engineers that works with the other discipline applications in our portfolio”.

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Zuken pulled out all the stops to improve the quality of cabling design and manufacturing, while also integrating other modules like fluid design into the heart of the product development process.

This year’s E3.series from Zuken is all about letting the users lead the way in determining software feature enhancements In addition to specific technology advancements for the modules within E3.series, tasks that previously required multiple clicks and commands, are now done with the press of a single button - or even automatically

In addition to enhancing the usability of the core architecture and base module, Zuken pulled out all the stops to improve the quality of cabling design and manufacturing, while also integrating other modules like fluid design into the heart of the product development process.

Zuken advanced the multi-user capabilities by introducing hierarchical and restricted design control for efficiency required to meet the challenges of large scale design operations for highly complex products.

Improvements to the core module, E3.schematic, focus on making the design processes smoother and eliminating tedious design tasks like switching between forced and normal wiring for a connection, which would normally take between 30 and 60 seconds per pin connect.
Further reading

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For a design with over 1000 connections, completing this job automatically results in a massive time savings.

With the latest version it is now possible to embed any file as an external document within the E3.series design, delivering significant savings in project management.

For companies with wide product ranges, managing design options gets easier; changing from one option to another previously required about 25 mouse clicks - now it’s down to just three.

The module for designing cabinets and other panel structures, E3.panel, gains improved design flexibility and fully exploits the object-oriented structure of E3.series.

When space, scale and product variation and options are an issue, users can apply different mounting positions for different variations or options of a product.

Catering specifically to the automotive, aerospace and military cable and wire harness producers, E3.cable guarantees higher reliability early within the design cycle, supports industry design and legislative requirements, and overcomes specific product requirements, for example; easy placement of inliners in automotive connections.

Moving away from the traditional electrical focus of E3.series, hydraulics designers can also benefit from advancements in the hydraulics and pneumatics module, E3.fluid.

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Latest release also includes a number of enhancements including significant improvements to the sequence export and import ASCII text file functions.

Available now from ControlEng Corp, the latest version of ServoSoft includes more than 1500 Stober products, including gearboxes, motors and drives, as well as more than Mayr couplings These newly added products mark the first stage in a plan to include many more Stober products during 2008

The ServoSoft database continues to grow with a new update every 1-3 months.

The database now contains over 11,500 products.

This ServoSoft release also includes a number of enhancements including significant improvements to the sequence export and import ASCII text file functions, which now supports all profile types including CAM profiles - sinusoidal, cycloidal, modified sine, modified trapezoid, polynomial 5th order and polynomial 7th order.

Previously, only S-curve profiles were supported.

The new version allows users to import complex motion profiles, with dynamic inertia and thrust loads, and any combination of profile types.

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Hydraulic and electrical designs are integrated through a combined design platform that has the flexibility to customise views to select only essential electrical design information.

Zuken has released the 2008 version of the dedicated fluid design module of the E3.series environment The new version makes the design of hydraulics and pneumatics a more cohesive part of the

Hydraulics design engineers benefit from the best of both the individual and collective approaches to design.

Hydraulic and electrical designs are integrated through a combined design platform that has the flexibility to customise views to select only essential electrical design information, eliminating the unnecessary burden of irrelevant electrical complexity within the design view.

In addition, both hydraulics and electrical designers can now work within E3.series simultaneously, enabling them to work more collaboratively while improving quality and reducing development cycles.

Now fully integrated with electrical systems, the customised platform provides hydraulics engineers with a dedicated design environment complete with the ability to define their own symbols, such as tubes and hoses.

Hydraulic and pneumatic sheets are on display in the project tree and likewise, specific components appear in the components trees.

Customised views allow all users to select the level of detail of either the hydraulic or electrical data in the design view they are working on.

This is powered by the E3.enterprise edition, which enables concurrent design in a multiuser environment.

In the 2008 version, many of the advancements also have a direct advantage for the E3.fluid user.

It has improved functionality for quickly managing product variants and options and the ability to embed any file for improved project management.

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E3.cable allows users to add system level details without touching the top level and without having to insert sheets manually.

The 2008 version of the E3 series of modules for wire harness design has been dramatically improved to help designers achieve 100% design reliability E3.cable 2008 targets the automotive and military/aerospace industries

These industries will benefit from functionality that enables them to factor in specific design requirements shaped by the physical nature of their end products, industry legislation and safety mandates.

For the design of wire harnesses for cars, trucks and specialised vehicles, the focus is on delivering design time savings by adding industry-specific functionality to eliminate time spent on tedious manual activities.

For the design of aeroplanes, helicopters and military applications, the emphasis is on reducing effort, increasing design quality and guaranteeing 100% end product reliability.

A standard car typically has a large number of inliners.

Placing these within connections historically took several minutes each.

In E3.cable 2008, Zuken includes a function that will simply add these and does all the background work; reducing the time to complete these tasks to seconds.

Another capability that will benefit all users of E3.cable, particularly those in the automotive sector, is the ability to copy/insert complete sub circuits as an original, allowing users to add system level details without touching the top level and without having to insert sheets manually.

In military/aerospace applications that have many parallel connections, designs often appear cluttered where connections are difficult to make.

The latest version of E3.cable eliminates this problem by introducing the ability to allow shielded pins in the form of daisy chains.

In addition to the aesthetic improvements, this significantly improves design quality and reliability.

Users no longer have to use workarounds to display connectors to that conform to industry MIL standards, as this form of connector symbol display is now just a simple click option.

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The IGE+XAO Group has released the launch of SEE Freedom an innovative offer for the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) market.

IGE+XAO has released SEE Freedom for the computer-aided design (CAD) market, including access to the software package, training (initial and update training), hotline, as well as all the new releases (minor and major) SEE Freedom is built around SEE Electrical, the IGE+XAO Group software package which covers small and medium businesses requirements in electrical schematics

Available in three versions” “Basic”, “Standard” and “Advanced”, SEE Electrical an evolve according to customers needs.

The “Basic” level is a low-cost option, while the “Standard” level includes functions which allow the creation and management of electrical schematics with maximum productivity.

The “Advanced” level includes PLC input/output management and automatic plan generation.

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Software runs in multiple Windows Terminal Server sessions allowing multiple remote users to connect via a remote desktop connection.

ControlEng Corporation has released a new version of its servo system sizing software specifically engineered to the requirements of for vendors, distributors and systems integrators ServoSoft TS (Terminal Server) runs in multiple Windows Terminal Server sessions allowing multiple remote users to connect via a remote desktop connection and use ServoSoft TS without installing any software on their own PCs

Windows XP or Vista and an Internet connection are all that is needed.

ServoSoft TS can be specifically customised for vendors, distributors and integrators so that the database listings only contain the vendor’s products.

Custom branding is also available.

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