Imprint

© 2003 innotec GmbH

Issued by: innotec GmbH
Hattinger Str. 12
D-58332 Schwelm
http://www.innotec.de
Comos ist a product of innotec GmbH.
The software and hardware designations mentioned in this manual are, in
most cases, also registered trade marks and as such are subject to statutory
regulations.
Comos® is the registered trade mark of innotec GmbH.
This manual is protected by copyright laws. All rights, even those including
translation, reprint and duplication, be it partially or in whole, are reserved.
No part of the documation may be reproduced, distributed or processed using
electronic systems, copied or disseminated in any form whatsoever
(photocopy, microfilm or a different process), also not for teaching purposes,
without the written consent of the publisher.
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(dongle). Loss of the license floppy disk or adapter (dongle) automatically
leads to loss of the license.
For any questions in connection with the documentation, please contact:
[email protected].

Comos Hotline Support:

Monday-Friday between 08:30 and 17:00
Phone: +49 (0) 228 6480 577

Quickstart EE - SET700E01 As at: February 11, 2003

© 2003 innotec GmbH

© 2003 innotec GmbH
Table of Contents

1 EE preparations
1.1 Project template for electrical engineering ........................... 2
1.2 Coming up next.................................................................... 5

2 Creating base structures

2.1 Prepared standard objects on the mouse menu .................. 6
2.2 Placing objects on the design sheet (Report) ...................... 7
2.3 Coming up next.................................................................... 8

3 Construction (Design)
3.1 Power supply ....................................................................... 9
3.1.1 Copy templates for power supply ......................................................9
3.1.2 Manual power supply.......................................................................11
3.2 Placing devices and components ...................................... 14
3.3 Establishing connections ................................................... 15
3.4 Conductors / Wires ............................................................ 17
3.5 Drawing sheet references .................................................. 19
3.6 Coming up next.................................................................. 19

4 Specifications of the drawing objects

4.1 Coming up next.................................................................. 21

5 Editing objects
5.1 The Wires tab..................................................................... 22
5.1.1 General remarks ..............................................................................22
5.1.2 Saving the schemes / settings of the Wires tab...............................23
5.1.3 Prepared Wires................................................................................24
5.1.4 Undefined wires (only for virtual elements) .....................................24
5.2 The strip tab ....................................................................... 24
5.3 The Elements tab for terminal strips .................................. 26
5.3.1 Numbering .......................................................................................27
5.3.2 Sorting by direction ..........................................................................27
5.3.3 Moving terminals by a drag&drop operation ....................................28
5.4 The connector tab .............................................................. 28
5.4.1 Prepared logical potentials for connectors ......................................28

© 2003 innotec GmbH

 5.5 Coming up next.................................................................. 28

6 Product data (device manufacturer)

6.1 The “Device selection“ dialog box...................................... 29
6.2 Editing objects.................................................................... 32
6.3 Coming up next.................................................................. 33

7 Evaluation
7.1 Order-/ Material-/ Parts lists ............................................... 34
7.1.1 General remarks ............................................................................. 34
7.1.2 Order lists ....................................................................................... 36
7.1.3 Component lists .............................................................................. 36
7.1.4 Parts lists ........................................................................................ 37
7.2 Device related Reports ...................................................... 37
7.3 Manually creating additional Reports................................. 38
7.4 Coming up next.................................................................. 38

8 Design plans (for switching cabinets)

8.1 General remarks ................................................................ 39
8.2 Requirements..................................................................... 39
8.2.1 Documents...................................................................................... 39
8.2.1.1 Base object @O | ET | DES.............................................................. 39
8.2.1.2 Report template CRP | IAR | PED | PED.1 ..................................... 40
8.2.2 Views .............................................................................................. 40
8.2.3 Standard tables............................................................................... 41
8.2.4 Switching cabinet and basic parts .................................................. 41
8.2.5 Symbols .......................................................................................... 42
8.2.6 Specifications.................................................................................. 42
8.3 Example ............................................................................. 43
8.3.1 Step 1: Creating a new switching cabinet....................................... 43
8.3.2 Step 2: Equipping the switching cabinet ......................................... 44
8.3.3 Step 3: Creating the design plan .................................................... 45
8.3.4 Step 4: Placing the view objects ..................................................... 45
8.3.5 Step 5: Placing the components of the switching cabinet............... 46
8.3.6 Step 6: Creating other views........................................................... 47
8.4 Coming up next.................................................................. 48

© 2003 innotec GmbH

Welcome to the electrical engineering module
Electrical engineering is the technical domain that deals with applications
related to the science of electricity. It is divided into electrical power (current)
engineering and communication engineering (“weak-current engineering“).
• Power engineering involves the creation of electrical energy, transportation
of electricity as well as the use of electrical energy in electrical machines
and plants.
• Communication engineering deals with electronics, high-frequency
engineering and all engineering fields that deal with the transmission and
processing of information in the form of electrical signals.
The Comos EE (german: Comos ET) module extensively supports both
power- and communication engineering.
Typical aspects of importance are: symbols library, project management,
sheet management, design editing (“drawings“), component management,
parts lists, etc. The Comos EE module will facilitate and standardize these
aspects.
All these problems cannot be solved by a single small tool. The Comos EE
module is therefore a collection of highly specialized tools.
An advantage of Comos EE is that the annoying, but necessary administrative
work can be fully automated; you can entirely concentrate on the design and
construction.
Similar to other CAE systems, Comos will be adapted to your company-spe-
cific needs by a trained administrator.
However, the standard cases are handled by the free of charge templates in the
delivered Comos package. In the coming chapters you will notice how fast
you can begin productive work, by simply selecting the correct template.
However, you must start by opening your working environment, which is
adapted to electrical engineering.

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Project template for electrical engineering EE preparations

1 EE preparations

Prerequisite knowledge
Knowledge of the manual Quickstart Basic is required.

1.1 Project template for electrical engineering

1. Start Comos.
2. Open your company-specific project database or the delivered Comos
standard database. Open the OPEN PROJECT window using | FILE | OPEN
PROJECT.

3. Create a new project. Using the right mouse button, click the new project
window, and then click | NEW:

The Project properties window appears:

The default project name that appears in the Name field (here Comos_ET2)
depends on the marked project in the Project properties window. The pro-
ject can be marked by chance, so ignore the default name – for example,
Comos_ET2 – above.
Enter the desired texts in the Name and Description fields.

2 © 2003 innotec GmbH

EE preparations Project template for electrical engineering

Language support
Change to the Languages tab, and enable Support languages :

The Languages tab now changes, and an empty pane (open window) appears.
Right-click in the pane and select Accept settings from base project :

A message appears, confirm with [YES].

The default (enabled) language is German; with a double-click under the
column "CurrentDB " the English language will be enabled:

Special options for EE

Now click the Links tab . Click the [...] button on the right side of the Project
precepts field:

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Project template for electrical engineering EE preparations

A new selection window appears; select @E Project suppositions EE and

confirm with [OK]:

After confirming with [OK] you return to the Open project window with the
newly created project:

Double-click the newly created project. The following window appears:

You now have a clear working environment, without any confusing informa-
tion. All the necessary templates and default values have been loaded in the
background although they are invisible.

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EE preparations Coming up next

1.2 Coming up next

You will often deal with complex data structures in your day-to-day work. A
colleague or your administrator will integrate your company-specific data.
It is advantageous to practice on a clear and new project. To start planning,
some simple (base) data structures are always needed; but Comos and the
above selected project will provide you the base structure in an easy manner.

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Prepared standard objects on the mouse menu Creating base structures

2 Creating base structures

2.1 Prepared standard objects on the mouse menu

The newly created project is still empty. Generally, documents for electrical
technology plants are planned and arranged in unit structures (i.e. under the
Units tab).
Using the right mouse button, click the project (i.e. the blue globe), point to
| NEW, and then click the standard unit, A Unit :

Alternatively: if you prefer to plan or design your plant in locations instead of

units, you can use the Locations tab, with its corresponding default objects
on the mouse menu.
Please note: if the option Directly edit new objects (on the mouse context
menu of Navigator | SETTINGS) is enabled, the properties window of the newly
created unit opens. You can either change or use the default entries in the
fields Name, Description, etc. Confirm your entries with [OK].
You can now create more units in a similar manner. Partial- or sub-units of a
main unit can also be created as follows: right-click the unit, point to | NEW,
and then click the desired submenu item.
Using the right mouse button, click the unit, point to | NEW, and then click
T Plant unit .
The submenu of the Plant unit (depending on your project precepts and Navi-
gator settings) also contain already prepared designs (e.g. circuit diagrams):

6 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Creating base structures Placing objects on the design sheet (Report)

After clicking circuit diagram, the Report (document) will be seen in the
Navigator; double-click the Report to open it. The document will appear on
the working environment.
To work on separate windows, click the lower
button as shown in the illustration:

Effect: The document will appear in a separate window.

After these few mouse clicks, you can now begin productive work.

2.2 Placing objects on the design sheet (Report)

In electrical engineering, not all objects can be placed on the design sheet
(Report) directly. Certain objects must be created in the Navigator before they
can be used on the Report. Examples of such objects are PLC and contactors.
This is because these objects have multiple levels (multi-stage objects), and
only the second level will be placed on the Report. This second level will only
be available after the creation of the object in the Navigator.
• Create a contactor and an SPS card in the Planning data:
@1EA Catalog EE | A Assemblies, subassemblies| A General PLC
@1EA Catalog EE | K Relays, Contactors | H Auxiliary contactor

• Now select the assemblies or parts of the structural components (i.e. second
level parts) you actually desire:

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Coming up next Creating base structures

• If assemblies have been created in the Navigator, they can now be placed on
the Report.

In a way, terminal strips or plug strips also belong to this group. The strip will
not be placed on the Report, only the terminal or plug will be placed. Howe-
ver, although with some limitations, it is possible to directly drag a terminal
strip from the Base data onto the Report: in this case, a terminal strip as well
as a standard ten-key block with terminal will be created in the planning
(design) data, and then one of these standard terminals will be placed on the
Report.
To avoid this standard case, follow the above instructions on PLC and contac-
tors, where the terminal strip is first created in the Navigator and the desired
terminal created on the mouse menu.

2.3 Coming up next

You now have enough information on the creation of base objects; we can
now begin productive (practical) work. Our working tool – the “Interactive
Report“ – was described in the manual “Quickstart Basic“. Knowledge of this
manual (e.g. Zoom, Raster, Drag&Drop, etc.) is required here.

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Construction (Design) Power supply

3 Construction (Design)

3.1 Power supply

3.1.1 Copy templates for power supply

We usually start by creating an adequate number of potentials:

• Using the right mouse button, click in the Report (design sheet).
Normally, you are not permitted to mark or select any object; but at the
moment no object can be marked because the Report is still empty. If you
repeat this step later, remember not to click any already placed objects (not
even by mistake), else the mouse context menu will change.
• Click | PLACE TEMPLATE
• The select document as template dialog box appears. Open @B to
place in documents and click Incoming supply .
• Select a template, unfold the template and click a Report (document). The
illustration below shows a clicked Report, with a power supply and five
conductors:

A preview of the clicked Report can be seen at the bottom of the dialog box:

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Power supply Construction (Design)

Effects on the planning data

Parallel to the Interactive
Report all the power supply
components will be automati-
cally created, as seen in the
illustration:

10 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Construction (Design) Power supply

3.1.2 Manual power supply

Potentials
There is an icon bar with Base objects on the standard Report. Click the icon
of a potential; a template “sticks“ on the mouse pointer:

You can now click in the Report as often as you want; each click creates a new
potential (it also applies to the planning data). To stop the process, click the
black arrow on the left of the tool bar (left of the icon bar).
Power supplies will often be drawn in a bent form. In this case, displace the
starting points of the potentials as shown below:

Monitoring potentials: Comos can monitor potentials, even beyond the scope
of the present components. See also, the Comos manual, under Potentials.

Terminal strip
Create a terminal strip in the planning data, preferably parallel to the Interac-
tive Report. (To create objects in the planning data, see the manual “Quick-
start Basic“)
Check the terminal strip: start by checking the terminal strips in your planning
data, to know the terminals that are already available. New terminals can be
created through the mouse context menu:
• using the right mouse button, click the terminal strip and choose | NEW | (the
desired terminal).

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Power supply Construction (Design)

A specific terminal for a PE-conductor can be created in a similar manner.

Please note: In the Navigator settings, if the option Directly edit new
objects is enabled, the properties dialog box of the newly created terminal
appears. Confirm with [OK].
Mark or select the objects (i.e. the required terminals) using <CTRL> + mouse-
click all and place them on the Report (by a drag & drop operation):
If a terminal strip is placed on an EE-plan, then the next available
free terminal will be placed. If a terminal strip is placed on a
design-plan (plan type: “Design“), then all available free terminals
will be placed.

Connecting terminals and potentials

Using the connecting tools you can now connect terminals with potentials. If
you are good at working with the mouse button, then you can establish all the
connections at the same time. (Did you arrange or displace the starting points
of the potentials as recommended above?) Click the connection tool on the
icon bar, to set the number of connections, and then connect the starting points
of the potentials with the terminals:

12 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Construction (Design) Power supply

• You can select five connections (see above illustration), since the PE-
conductor will be distinguished easily. (That is, it is not necessary to first
connect the four physical potentials before connecting the PE-conductor).
• Begin with the outermost conductor– here that is L1. From the dimmed or
gray box in the above illustration, you can recognize that the first click was
at L1.
• The mouse pointer changes its form (see the cross sign in the above
illustration). Drag the mouse pointer the outermost terminal and confirm
with a mouse-click.
• Complete the connection procedure by a right-mouse click.

Safety switch
Finally, open the Catalog EE Base objects and search for a line safety
switch. The number of terminals on the switch should normally be equal to
the number of potentials. (of course, without PE and N ).
Drag the base object directly and drop it on the conductor. The outermost con-
ductor will change to yellow if there is a position for the connection.

© 2003 innotec GmbH 13

Placing devices and components Construction (Design)

The conductors will be separated automatically, the switch connections will

be connected and additional (necessary) planning objects will be created.

3.2 Placing devices and components

The placement of devices and components usually take place after the power
supply. Comos offers a wide variety of templates in the Base object tab. At
the moment, only the electrical engineering templates (Catalog EE ) are of
importance to us; you are therefore recommended to separate or “tear off“
Catalog EE from the other Base objects. Click the Base objects tab, and
then right-click @1EA Catalog EE, and select | TEAR OFF.
You can now switch over to the planning data (the Units or Locations tab) and
access – the planning data and the necessary Base data – at the same time.
Now if you want to use a transformer, for example, just search for the appro-
priate template under the Base Objects Catalog EE | T Transformers |
Simple move the base object onto the Report by a drag & drop operation. All
other objects can be located and moved in the same way. Tip: make sure you
place or arrange the objects under and beside each other (i.e. on a straight
line); this facilitates connection because by so doing a single mouse-click can
establish many connections.

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Construction (Design) Establishing connections

3.3 Establishing connections

The connection tool of Comos is complex, but easy to operate.

General connections
Connections can also be established through devices.
In the illustration on the right, a connection has been
established from the starting point of the potential
(gray box) through the transformer (see position of
the mouse pointer at the bottom).
Clearly visible: the line crosses the transformer,
because the connection is still being established.
A left mouse-click confirms the next connection point
( Other intermediate points can also be established in
a similar manner); a right mouse-click terminates the
connection process.
The resulting connection separates the line that cros-
ses the transformer.

Clearly visible: now the line no longer crosses the

transformer, because the device automatically adapts
to the connection:
An automatic potential link can be seen at the end of
the connection.

Multi-terminal connections
When using devices with the same poles, establishing
connections will be easier. Assume you have a 3-pole power supply and simi-
lar devices such as a motor with safety switch.
Then simply select a 3-pole connection from the connection tool:

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Establishing connections Construction (Design)

Establish the connection from the power supply,

through the safety switch, to the motor:

The resulting connection will adapt to the type of

device and connection.

Wiring direction
In Comos, connections have a logical “wiring direction“. This wiring direc-
tion depends on the sequence and geometric location of the points you want
to connect.
The wiring direction is indicated by a hook, as seen in
the illustration on the right.

If the starting point of a connection is a link, the first two connecting points
determine the wiring direction. If the link is at the end of the connection, the
last two points determine the wiring direction.
Potential exits have no wiring direction. Therefore to test the effects of a
wiring direction, you cannot use a power supply that has already been drawn.
Take the following small test:
• Click the connection tool

• draw a vertical line anywhere on the Report. It can be a single isolated line;
because a closed connection is not a necessary condition for the test.
Complete the connection with a right mouse-click.

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Construction (Design) Conductors / Wires

• Place or set the three points below in the following sequence:

Point 1 on the line:

Point 2 outwards, and higher:

Point 3 vertically, downwards:

• Complete the test with a right mouse-click.

The result should be as seen in the illustration:

3.4 Conductors / Wires

In most cases it is necessary to accurately indicate the connection. To do so,
use the class “Cable “. On the Navigator, select W Cable and drag a cable
onto the connection:

© 2003 innotec GmbH 17

Conductors / Wires Construction (Design)

A cable will automatically be added to the planning data; and then the cable
will be assigned or linked to the connection and vice versa.
If you have created a power supply with many potentials, then you may even-
tually pull (widen) the cable information, because not all potentials will be
touched.
• Zoom the working area (drawing sheet), for clear visibility of the cable
information.
• Then click the cable information two times (i.e. two single clicks, not a
double click). The first click selects the object, and the second click enables
the edit mode.
• You can now pull the small box towards the left to widen the cable:

Potentials on connections
Alternatively, you can drag potentials from the Navigator and assign them to
a connection. For example, fuses always assigned potentials automatically. If
you create a safety switch on the Navigator, then potentials will also be availa-
ble.
Click the assignment (assign) tool on the tool bar, and then drag the
potentials to the connection:

18 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Construction (Design) Drawing sheet references

You will be offered all the connectors that are on this potential. In this
example only one connector is available, the A1T1 connector; you will be
offered this connector.
If the potentials do not yet have any connectors, you will receive no offer. The
above example has exactly one connector. You can simply click the connector
to establish a connection.
NB: please make sure you use the assignment tool, do not mistakenly use the
Identify tool, else the function will not be executed correctly.

3.5 Drawing sheet references

It will often be necessary to continue working on a second drawing sheet
(Report). It is therefore important to be informed on related Reports (i.e.
Reports that are linked to others). In Comos, this information will be admini-
stered automatically.
Simply create another Report. Drag a physical potential object from the tree
you are already using on the first Report, to the second Report.
At the end of the potential, a sheet reference will
be displayed; the relationship can be recognized.
See the example on the right, with the potentials
L4 and L5 on the Report PFSS.2 , path 0.

3.6 Coming up next

Many drawing objects can be used as created in the Base data. However, a
drawing object must be more specific in some circumstances. These specifi-
cations will also be necessary to automatically determine required device
manufacturer.
The easiest way is to specify objects from the Report; details will be explained
in the next chapter.

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 Specifications of the drawing objects

4 Specifications of the drawing objects

If you drop objects on the Report, you can immediately set their necessary
specifications (attributes):
• Select the object,
• right-click the object, and then click | Properties :

• click the Specifications tab.

Please note: some specifications are necessary to determine the possible
device manufacturers. In Comos, there is a dialog box, which can automati-
cally relate objects to appropriate device manufacturers depending on the pro-
duct specific settings.
The product relevant specifications can be recognized by the unchangeable
fields or entries. These default values are from the Base objects. You are
under no obligation to accept these default values. You can enter new speci-
fication values. If no new specification values have been entered, then the
device manufacturer will be determined using the specified values.
Here is an example on a safety switch:

20 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Specifications of the drawing objects Coming up next

The value 2A (i.e. 2 Ampere) is from the Base object. Nothing can be entered
in the field with the value 2A.
Values can be entered in the left field. The above example has a value of 3
Amp. If you enter you own values, they will be used. The default value (here
2A) will only be used if you do not enter you own values. So 3A will be used
here instead of the default value 2A because 3A has been entered in the left
field.
Depending on the entered values, you will be offered the possible device
manufacturers.

4.1 Coming up next

If the necessary specifications of a drawing have been entered and the dra-
wing is complete, it is time to determine the appropriate device manufactur-
ers.
Details will be explained in the following chapter.

© 2003 innotec GmbH 21

The Wires tab Editing objects

5 Editing objects

5.1 The Wires tab

5.1.1 General remarks

The Wires tab enables a quick overview of the connectors (devices) connected
to this cable. This tab is only available if
• the Planning object has a Base object with class: Devise; detail type: cable
or
• the type Element ; detail class: Wire

The wires of this cable can also be edited rapidly, with the right mouse button:

| DISCONNECT Disconnects the wires of the connector or both con-

nected connectors.
| SWAP To swap two cables.
| RESET FOR Deletes all filters and other settings in the open win-
COLUMNS dow.
| NAVIGATE Navigates, in the project explorer, to the object of the
column. Please note: different objects appear within a
row depending on the column.
| AUTO CORREC- Tries to correct all incomplete or wrongly connected
TION wires. For example, two connectors are connected but
only one of them contains wires. In this case both con-
nectors must be connected with the wire and the mis-
sing information will be added to the second
connector.
| REFRESH Refreshes the tab.

22 © innotec GmbH
Editing objects The Wires tab

| PROPERTIES Displays the properties dialog box of the column

objects. Please note: different objects appear within a
row depending on the column.

5.1.2 Saving the schemes / settings of the Wires tab

Open windows (or data in open windows) can be sorted, filtered and exten-
ded. These settings will be saved and they will be made available if another
open window of the same category is opened.
For example, if a planning object (not of type terminal strip ) has different
settings for the Wires tab and another planning object is opened, then the
Wires tab of the new object will be filtered and sorted in the same way (i.e.
like the previous planning object).
However, it is also possible to separately save the settings or schemes of each
planning object. An invisible specification has been prepared on the planning
object; all the necessary information can be saved in this specification. Click
the scheme icon, point to | SCREEN SCHEME and click | SAVE:

You have now saved the scheme in the specification. The next option will
check whether the scheme should be automatically loaded or not.
This is controlled by the option | SCHEME PER OBJECT: if this option is enabled
(see above illustration), then a scheme will be searched automatically when
the Properties dialog box of a Planning object opens. If this option is not ena-
bled, the scheme must be loaded manually using: | SCREEN SCHEME | LOAD.

Document scheme
The command | DOCUMENT SCHEME can also save the scheme of the current
representation, but it has a different purpose: the document scheme enables
writing in a Report in the form of lists. The scheme will be sent to the DLL
ComosWiresListIR and the scheme can be be obtained from there, in an
interactive Report.
Include an open window on the interactive Report and apply the following
command:

© innotec GmbH 23
The strip tab Editing objects

Set InfoDll =
CreateObject("ComosWiresListIR.ClassWiresListIR")
Set Cables = ReportObject.ScanDevices("D*")

Please note: Every user can overwrite a scheme! Particularly, if the layout of
the Report has been adapted to a scheme, no user is permitted to save the
document scheme, to avoid compatibility changes between the layout and the
scheme.
For more information on document schemes in Reports, see also the Comos
manual.

5.1.3 Prepared Wires

Connectors can be configured such that an link to a cable/wire will already be

available, when the Planning object has been created.

Planning project results

If a Planning object is created on the bases of a Base object, the Connectors
tab will be seen above the wire. Since the connection does not yet exist, the
wire will be assigned a cross and a question mark to denote it not connected.

5.1.4 Undefined wires (only for virtual elements)

Undefined wires can also be defined within virtual elements. The name of the
cable appears in the field and a star as place holder for the wire: @L.4 x
0,75.*

Planning project results

If the object is created in the planning project, in this example “Test“, the
planning project contains a virtual element “Detector“. The detector can be
created using the known functions | CREATE or | CREATE N. The first available
wire will automatically be located and registered in the cable.

5.2 The strip tab

The strip tab displays the terminal- and connector objects.

24 © innotec GmbH
Editing objects The strip tab

Remarks
Terminal strips and connector strips are constructed in two stages:
1. There is a single object that represents the strip. The strip itself generally
has no connectors.
2. Each strip or connector has a hierarchical lower object. Each strip- or
connector object has (or can have) many connections. They can only
function together: it makes no sense to create a terminal strip without
terminal objects and vise versa.

In other words: the connectors tab of a terminal strip will often be empty.
The connectors are located “at a lower level“ at the strip- and conector
objects, and they will be displayed on the Strip tab.

Dialog elements
The strip tab is constructed as follows:
1. There is at least one entry (a row) for each terminal (or connector).
2. Two connections will be displayed in each row: an I-connector (IN) and
an O-connector (OUT).
3. If a terminal has more than two connectors, more rows will be added on
request.
4. Each of these rows can have an I-connector and an O-connector, but both
of them must not always be available. In this case a icons will indicate the
missing connector:
The I-connectors will always be displayed on the left, and the O-
connectors on the right side. The I-connector is therefore missing here.

© innotec GmbH 25
The Elements tab for terminal strips Editing objects

The dialog elements

Load / save scheme
A scheme can also be saved for the strip tab. It can be used like the
Wires tab, see also →CHAPTER 5.1.2: SAVING THE SCHEMES / SETTINGS OF THE WIRES
TAB.

EE/MCR
Displays the EE/MCR connectors for terminal- or plug objects.
Examples of other connectors are SingleLine or connectors for ANSI.
| CREATE AUXILIARY CONNECTORS
A Comos Connector can only be connected to exactly one other connector.
To illustrate a terminal with many cables attached to it, you must create auxi-
liary connectors. Auxiliary connectors will automatically be created for
potentials.

5.3 The Elements tab for terminal strips

The common commands of the Elements tab have already been explained in
the manual Quickstart Basic .
Click the strips tab, and then right-click in the open window (white area):

| COLUMNS ...| ADD BRIDGE COLUMNS

Creates another column in which the bridge can be represen-
ted and edited.
...| REDUCE BRIDGE COLUMNS
Deletes all bridge columns that are no longer in use.

26 © innotec GmbH
Editing objects The Elements tab for terminal strips

5.3.1 Numbering

It is possible to start numbering the labels of terminals from afresh, and apply
the new numbering sequence in the database.
The purpose of this function: there are two different criteria in practical ope-
ration to evaluate terminals: Name and Label. Their criteria sequences can be
different.
The name and laabel sequences are often identical, so the sorting criteria is not
important. However, the name and label must not be alphabetically exactly
identical, it will suffice if the nummerical sequence is identical. For example:
(Name/ Label):
terminal 2/ 23; terminal 3/ 24; terminal 5/ 25; terminal 27/ 28.
The name and label sequences are identical, because “2“ precedes “3“, simi-
larly “23“ precedes “24“, etc.

Command
• To enable this command, sort by name must be enabled. Check this
through:
a right mouse-click in the white area of the Elements tab;
enable sort by name
• The Renumbering command is now available (enabled):
a right mouse-click in the white area of the Elements tab, and
click Renumbering (by label)

5.3.2 Sorting by direction

• Enable this command with:

a right-mouse click in the white are of the Elements, and then
click sort by name
• the command is now available (enabled ):
right-click in the white area of the Elements tab, and then
click Sort XY or Sort YX
Sort XY
Sorts the representation of the terminals by their placement order on the docu-
ment: XY starts sorting in the X direction before the Y direction.
Sort YX
Sorts the representation of the terminals by their placement order on the docu-
ment: YX starts sorting in the Ydirection before the X direction.

© innotec GmbH 27
The connector tab Editing objects

5.3.3 Moving terminals by a drag&drop operation

Move an element onto another element using a drag&drop operation. You

will be offered the context menu commands before and after : the dragged
element will be inserted before and after the other element using the com-
mands before and after respectively.
The new element names will be retained, to avoid many blanks when numbe-
ring the names.

5.4 The connector tab

5.4.1 Prepared logical potentials for connectors

A connector can be configured such that an assigned logical potential should

already be available when the Planning object has been created. They have
similar names, so the software detects they belong together.

Planning project results

When a Planning object is created, the connector receives the logical potential
with the same name if no logical potential has be assigned to it. To see the
results of the connector tab, the column log. Potentials, on the mouse con-
text menu, must be enabled.

5.5 Coming up next

If you have completed (i.e. you are done) or almost completed a drawing and
the necessary specifications of the drawing objects have been entered, you can
now select a specific device manufacturer.
The exact procedure will be described in the next chapter.

28 © innotec GmbH
Product data (device manufacturer) The “Device selection“ dialog box

6 Product data (device manufacturer)

6.1 The “Device selection“ dialog box

Product data provide the interface between the technical values of the reque-
sted object and the capability of the real devices. Product data can be control-
led by specifications as described in the earlier chapters.
Click EXTRA, point to | DETAIL, and select | DEVICE SELECTION (PRODUCT DATA).
1. Set a starting point by dragging the unit containing the Report to the field
Start objects .

An list of objects appears in the upper open window:

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The “Device selection“ dialog box Product data (device manufacturer)

2. Click [PD? ]:

Effects:
• Additional columns will be displayed; each relevant product data
specification will appear in a separate column.
• For planning objects without any entries (values) for the relevant product
data specification (or without any specifications), the column remains blank
at that point. The values inherited from the Base objects will eventually be
displayed.
The following steps concern all the visible columns. If only part of the rele-
vant product data should be considered, then some of the columns must be
disabled.
3. Select or mark a column and delete it.
Effects:
• The specification remains in the planning data.
• The column (i.e. specification) will be disabled and no longer considered in
the steps that follow.

Searching for suitable manufacturer device (real devices)

4. Select or mark the object (in the upper open window) that requires a
suitable manufacturer (real) device.
Alternatively: press <Ctrl> and click all the objects that require
manufacturer devices. For example, you can select many fuses at the
same time and collectively search for a suitable manufacturer device.
5. Click the search button in the lower window, to activate the search
function.

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Product data (device manufacturer) The “Device selection“ dialog box

Effects:
• It will search for one or more Base objects suitable for the planning objects
that have been selected in the upper window and all visible specifications.

Analysing the search operation

If no Base objects could be found, this may be due to three reasons:
• The Base data (objects) contained no suitable manufacturer devices; that is,
no suitable Base objects had been created or imported.
• The selected planning objects (in the upper open window) were too
different; because Comos tries to search for Base objects that are suitable for
all the selected planning objects. Reduce the number of selected objects and
repeat the search operation.
• Some specifications that are not available in the manufacturer devices were
considered. Reduce the number of considered specifications, by deleting
some columns in the upper window; repeat the search operation.

Limitation of the results

May be not just one device is being offered during the search, instead many
devices are being offered. The differences in the various manufacturer devices
may not be recognized immediately. If that is the case, the product data of the
manufacturer devices should be enabled.
6. Click the Show product data button in the lower window, to view the
product data:

Similar to the upper window, additional columns will appear; the product data
of the manufacturer device will be seen under these columns.
May be columns were deleted in the upper window, thereby reducing the spe-
cifications. If you do not want to see specifications (that were not considered
for the search) in the lower window, you can change the representation using
the Show specifications as in planning objects icon shown below:

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Editing objects Product data (device manufacturer)

Effects: Only the product data with specifications as in the planning objects
(i.e the upper window) will be displayed.

Implementation
Different Base object that actually fulfil the requirements will now appear in
the lower open window.
7. To set the Base object: mark or select the desired object in the lower open
window and click the Set base object icon:

Effects:
• The Base object pointer will newly be assigned to all the selected planning
objects.
• The planning objects will no longer be considered as requirements .

6.2 Editing objects

If you later want to change the assigment of a manufacturer device, you must
choose different settings for the Device selection dialog box.
Open the dialog box and set a starting point under Start object . Click the
drop-down arrow on the right side of the toolbar:

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Product data (device manufacturer) Coming up next

Click the arrow to see the options; and then select Device.
Effects: now all devices, in which a manufacturer device had been implemen-
ted, will be displayed; and all devices without implementation will be disab-
led or dimmed.
As already mentioned, the command button [PD] must also be clicked:

You can once more view all the available manufacturer devices in the lower
window; proceed as follows: select or mark a device in the upper open win-
dow, mark a manufacturer device in the lower open window and click the Set
base object icon:

6.3 Coming up next

To complete a working session it is necessary to evaluate the results. With the
help of lists and tables, you can examine your work and at the same time pre-
sent your results to others.
You will find many evaluating Reports in the delivered Comos package.
Some of the Reports will be described in the next chapter.

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Order-/ Material-/ Parts lists Evaluation

7 Evaluation

7.1 Order-/ Material-/ Parts lists

7.1.1 General remarks

Comos currently offers three different and specially configured automatic

lists for electrical engineering designs. These lists facilitate the ordering, eva-
luation and collection of parts and materials. They are:
→ORDER LISTS
→COMPONENT LISTS
→PARTS LISTS

For objects to be included in any of the above lists, they must fulfil the follo-
wing conditions:
1. The objects are in a direct owner relationship, i.e. links will not be
evaluated.
2. Under Units or Locations, only objects that are within the Units- or
Location structures will be evaluated.
3. There is a Base object for the planning object.
4. The planning object is not of type log. Potential.
5. The planning object is not of type Cable.
6. It has the Mounting data tab.
7. It has the Manufacturer data tab.
8. It has the Delivery data tab.
9. On the Delivery data tab, not order relevant is not enabled.
10. The field Article number is not empty.

To create or obtain a list:

1. Create a new document as usual at a desired position.
2. Fill in the fields Name , Label , Description.
3. Click the Report tab, and select a template by clicking the button (with
three dots) on the right side of Report template field. Select
CRP | AWR | PPC | PPC.1 Order-/Parts list .

34 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Evaluation Order-/ Material-/ Parts lists

4. Click [OK], and change to the Specifications tab.

The sorting- and output criteria as well as the list type can be specified here.
Sort by
Here you can specify the sorting criteria that will later be used in the list.
Please note: the selection sequence is very important. The sequence will
appear in the unnammed field in text form as:
Unit (A), Locations (O), Name (N), manufacturer (H), Order number (B),
Structure label planobject (F), Structure label baseobject (C).
Example above:
Selection sequence: Unit, Name
Key in the text form: AN
Click [Reset] to cancel the selected sequence.

Output with
Terminal-/plug strips
Specifies whether the output will be with or without strips and terminals /
plugs.
Accessory
Specifies whether the output will be with or without accessories.
Pagebreak
Specifies whether a page break will be executed, if the content of the first sor-
ting criterium changes.
Unit
Evaluation selection between ALWAYS, NEVER or WITH THE REPORT OBJECT.

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Order-/ Material-/ Parts lists Evaluation

Locations
Evaluation selection between ALWAYS, NEVER or WITH THE REPORT OBJECT.
List type
Specifies the type of list, selection between ORDER LISTS, MATERIAL LISTS or
PART LISTS.

7.1.2 Order lists

Columns:
Position, Number, Order number, Order text, Manufacturer, Price, etc.
The order list is similar to the material list, however, only manufacturer
devices are considered here, i.e. the option ISREQUEST must be FALSE.

7.1.3 Component lists

Columns:
Position, Component number, Device description, Manufacturer, Price.
All devices that can be ordered will be listed, devices with the same article
numbers will be output together, terminal- and plug strips as well as accesse-
ries will be listed without their links.

36 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Evaluation Device related Reports

7.1.4 Parts lists

Columns: Position, Unit, Location, Name, Description, Manufacturer, Order

number, Device description, Price.
All positions will be listed separately, terminals and plugs sorted by type and
arranged under a strip. Accessories will be arranged under devices, indicated
by “+“ in the column Pos.

7.2 Device related Reports

If a Report cannot be separated from a device – for example, a terminal plan
from a terminal strip – then the corresponding document (Report) will be
available on the mouse context menu of the device.
Right-click the terminal strip and select the terminal plan. If you now open the
terminal plan with a double-click, the terminal information will be seen
(Name, etc.).
In case device related Reports do not automatically appear on the Documents
tab, proceed as follows:
1. Create a document group with a suitable name. Terminal plans have the
name prefix “PMA “. Under the document group D01 Document
strukture , select “PMA Cable list “.
Please note: You can change the description if it is too long; the name
should not be changed, else the automated functionality will not function.
2. Right-click the new document group and select | Create reference s.
If you have a properly configured system, the terminal strip will now be seen
in the document group.
3. If a message about the missing project option appears, proceed as follows:
Open the project properties and enable Automatic referencing of
documents on the Options tab.
4. If you have very large projects, then you should limit the references:
Open the properties window of the document group PMA .
Drag the unit or location, which is serving as main planning folder, to the
field Base objects .

© 2003 innotec GmbH 37

Manually creating additional Reports Evaluation

7.3 Manually creating additional Reports

In some cases a suitably prepared Report template may be available, but the
Evaluating Report itself is not yet available on the mouse context menu.
This third case will arise quite often in your day-to-day work, because your
administrator will always create new Report templates; in this case you should
be able to manually create a Report and manually link it to a Report template.
Many templates must be connected or linked manually within a planning pro-
ject.
For example, to link the template of a cable list:
1. Click the Document s tab on the Navigator and select the document group
| PMB Cable list, under the document group D01 Document
structure .
2. Right-click PMB Cable list, and select | New | New document . Enter
“cable list“ in the Name field.
3. Click the Report tab, and then click the [...] button on the right side of
the Report template field. You will find the template PMB.1 cable list
in the folder PMB cable list, under Evaluating Reports (EWR).
4. After confirming with [OK], you return to the properties dialog box.
Close this dialog box with [OK].
Similar to the parts list, the entire project will be evaluated. As described
above, you can limit the evaluation by dragging a unit or location onto the
Object field of the Report tab.

If you now open the Report (by a double-click) you will obtain the connec-
tions, cables and wires.

7.4 Coming up next

The following chapter deals with the necessary requirements to construct and
equipe switching cabinets with design plans.

38 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Design plans (for switching cabinets) General remarks

8 Design plans (for switching cabinets)

8.1 General remarks

Design plans are to-scale drawings that can be used to represent devices, ter-
minals, etc in switching cabinets. All the components of a design plan will be
represented and placed in a special view. The arrangement or placement order
of the components also infuences other calculated and related views; if a cor-
responding license (Comos-Viper) is available, a three dimensional (3D)
representation is also possible. This will require specialised Comos objects
(Reports, device specifications, etc.); these objects will be described below.

8.2 Requirements
The notations used below must be retained, because the specifications are lin-
ked to each other through these notations, and program routines also access
them.

8.2.1 Documents

8.2.1.1 Base object @O | ET | DES

This base object is necessary, if you create a design plan within Comos and
you want to edit it with the Triathlon software from the firm Metzner GmbH.

It provides an interface [Write to Metzner ] to export the Comos data to a Tri-

athlon-compatible format. A click on the command button initiates the export
procedure.

© 2003 innotec GmbH 39

Requirements Design plans (for switching cabinets)

If it has been exported successfully when the message „Files created in c:\
Temp “ appears. The settings of the output file can be changed by the admini-
strator using a script on the base object. It also applies to the file names; the
default name is: Metzner .txt1.

8.2.1.2 Report template CRP | IAR | PED | PED.1

To create a new design plan, create a new Report and select the Report tem-
plate CRP | IAR | PED | PED.1 . This Report template offers a document of
the DIN A1 format, and scale 1:5.
Administrators can also create Report templates with different formats and
scales if, in addition, the marked rows in the following Report template script
are adapted accordingly.
UIObject.Title = "Design plan"
QuadrantOffsetTop = 0
QuadrantOffsetLeft = 0
-> QuadrantSizeX = 840
-> QuadrantSizeY = 594
QuadrantStartChrX = "0"
QuadrantStartChrY = "A"
ConstructionMode = 1
-> MainDocument.DrawingScale = 1/5

8.2.2 Views

A design plan can represent all the used components of a design in various
views. Each view requires a separate object that must be placed on the plan.
The prepared view objects are located in: @L | SSE | BASIS | VIEWS, under
Base objects:

40 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Design plans (for switching cabinets) Requirements

These view objects contain all the necessary specificati- z

ons such as scale, width, type of view (front view, rear y
view, etc.). For a better understanding of the views, see
the coordinate system on the right.
x
It is recommended to choose the settings on the
Specifications | Geometry tab such that the resulting cuboid
should be a bit bigger than the planned cabinet, to provide space for
additional information. In addition, all views and Report templates
should have the same scale, to avoid complex conversion operati-
ons. This leads to a considerable increase in speed.

8.2.3 Standard tables

The necessary design plan specifications always access standard tables of the
Base project. Depending on their representations (2D or 3D) they are located
in the 2D or 3D paths.

8.2.4 Switching cabinet and basic parts

Some parts of a switching cabinet must be specified precisely. Examples of

such objects are:
– Cabinet system,
– Mounting plate,
– Mounting rail, etc.

© 2003 innotec GmbH 41

Requirements Design plans (for switching cabinets)

They are located under:

@L | SSE | BASIS | BAS_Z

8.2.5 Symbols

Every object that will be represented on the design plan z

requires its own symbol for each of the six views (Plan y
types Design_?? ). The symbols are arranged according
to the plan type. The different views and plan type nota-
tions are with respect to the illustrated coordinates.
x
8.2.6 Specifications

The tabs:
- EBD Mounting data ,
- GD 3D
- MKY Mounting keyl
are very necessary; they are loca-
ted under:
@Y | ET | 1 General chapter. The
tabs GD and MKY are visible on the
Base object, because no user chan-
ges will be made there. GD auto-
matically accesses all the
necessary information by using the
standard tables.
MKY controls the placement of objects in the switching cabinet.

42 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Design plans (for switching cabinets) Example

On the other hand, EBD Mounting

data can be edited within the plan-
ning data. The illustration on the
right is a cross section of the
EBD Mounting specifications.

8.3 Example
The following example will enlighten you on the relationship between Comos
objects, the precautions and effects of the switching cabinet construction as
well as their representation on the Report with different views.

8.3.1 Step 1: Creating a new switching cabinet

Create a switching cabinet under Locations as shown below.

You can automatically select

all the elements you want to
create on the Elements tab of
the newly created switching
cabinet. This method is very
good if the components or ele-
ments of the switching cabinet
are already known.

© 2003 innotec GmbH 43

Example Design plans (for switching cabinets)

Alternatively, the elements can be created separately using the mouse context
menu.

8.3.2 Step 2: Equipping the switching cabinet

Equipe the newly created switching cabinet with the components you want.
All the selected elements will be created automatically. However, you can still
create each object separately using the mouse context menu.

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Design plans (for switching cabinets) Example

8.3.3 Step 3: Creating the design plan

Create a new document of type Interactive Report . Click the Report tab, select
the following Interactive Report in the Report template field. IAR | PED I
PED.1 Aufbauplan, or PED.1 design plan.

Confirm the settings and open the new Report.

Contrary to the other Reports, the toolbar has six new symbols that represent
the different views. In addition, a special symbol bar appears on the right side
of the window.

8.3.4 Step 4: Placing the view objects

Place the desired objects on the Report. We usually begin with the front view
followed by the side views.

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Example Design plans (for switching cabinets)

Abb. 8-1: View objects on the design plan: front view (left) and left side view (right)

Comos can calculate and represent several views using the information from
the front- and side views. The other view objects just need to be placed on the
design plan and appropriate calculations will be done; the Report will be
refreshed accordingly.
However, we recommend you to limit yourself to the above men-
tioned views (i.e front- and side views) during the planning phase,
and to generate the other views only if necessary; this will reduce
the calculation time and accelerate the screen representation.

8.3.5 Step 5: Placing the components of the switching cabinet

Begin by placing the components of the switching cabinet in the appropriate
sequence, e.g. start with the mounting plate, then the partial mounting plate,
then cable canals, mounting rails, etc. The equipments will be placed at the
end.

Abb. 8-2: Design plan with objects in the front- and left side views

46 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Design plans (for switching cabinets) Example

It is generally recommended to start working at the back and pro-

ceed towards the front, because objects that are infront hide the
objects at a lower level, in the front view. However, lower level
objects can still be placed if the corresponding view levels for
these objects are set correctly. Therefore take note of the moun-
ting depths or levels of each object.

8.3.6 Step 6: Creating other views

Other (additional) views can be generated if you click the desired view object
on the toolbar and place it on the plan:

Abb. 8-3: Additional view object: side view, on the right side

The placement mode can be terminated by a right mouse-click. The menu

item View | placing objects (2½D) of the mouse context menu initiates the
calculation and representation of all the placed objects in the new view.

As expected, covered or hidden elements will not be represented. This can be

observed in the illustration below (with different views).

© 2003 innotec GmbH 47

Coming up next Design plans (for switching cabinets)

8.4 Coming up next

We are done with the Quickstart EE. For more information on Electrical engi-
neering, consult the Comos manual and read the chapter on electrical enginee-
ring .

48 © 2003 innotec GmbH

Index M
Manufacturer data 34
A Material lists 36
Motor 16
Add bridge column (internal) 26 Mounting data 34
Article number 34
Moving terminals 28
Auto correction 22
Automatic referencing 37
N
B Navigate 22
Navigator
Base objects 37 - settings 6
New document 38
C New Unit
- create new unit 6
Cable 34
Circuit diagram 6
Comos Hotline Support 1 O
ComosWiresListIR 24 O-connector 25
Connection 15 Order-/ Material-/ parts lists 34
Copy template power supply 9 Order-/Parts list 34
create
- potential 11
P
Parts lists 37
D PE-Conductor 12
Delivery data 34 PMA cable list 37
Device placement 14 Potential link 15
direction (connection) 16 Potentials 11
Disconnect potentials, logical
- wires 22 - preparation 28
Document scheme 23 Power supply
- copy template 9
Project template EE 2
E
Equipement placement 14
R
Reports 19
I
Reset 22
I-connector 25
Implementation 32
S
Scheme
L - Scheme per object 23
Limitation 31 searching 31
limitation of the results 31 Settings
log. potential 34 - Navigator 6
Logical potentials Sheet references 19
- preparation 28 Sort 35

© 2003 innotec GmbH 49

Sort XY (terminal) 27
Sort YX (terminal) 27
Specifications 20
Start objects 29
Swap(wires) 22

T
Tear off 14
Terminal-/plug strips 35
Transformers 14

V
V2 Template EE 9

W
Wires 22
wires
- swap 22
Wires tab 22
Wiring direction 16

50 © 2003 innotec GmbH