AutoCAD Electrical is the Windows toolset for designing and documenting electrical control systems within AutoCAD. It combines circuit schematics, component identification, PLC drawings and panel layouts in related drawing sets. Electrical symbols carry information that can also be used for wire connections, cross-references and parts reports. The toolset is included with AutoCAD.
AutoCAD Electrical projects
AutoCAD Electrical organizes a control-system design as a project containing related drawing files. Project Manager keeps the drawing list, descriptions and default settings together. You can preview sheets, add drawings, change their processing order and update title blocks across the project.
The project file points to the drawings rather than combining them into a single drawing. Folders in Project Manager arrange the sheets and select groups for project operations; changing that folder view does not relocate the files on disk. Only one project is active at a time, which establishes the drawing set used by project-wide commands.
Schematic symbols
The electrical symbol library supplies components for schematic drawings, with support for electrical standards and legacy JIC and IEC libraries. These symbols have attributes for component identity and connection information. A relay coil and its associated contacts can share a component tag, allowing AutoCAD Electrical to track their parent-and-child relationship even when they appear in different parts of the design.
Component tags follow a format chosen for the project. The format can combine a component family code with a sequential number or a line reference, and can include drawing or sheet information. Suffixes distinguish components from the same family at the same reference location. Automatic wire numbering handles wire identification, while project-wide retagging applies revised component numbering across the drawing set.
Custom parts with Symbol Builder
Symbol Builder handles parts that need a custom representation. You select existing geometry or create a symbol, choose its type and attribute template, then edit its graphics, attributes and wire connection points. A converted symbol can break a wire when inserted and contribute its information to component, connection and bill-of-material reports.
Circuit Builder
Circuit Builder assembles motor-control and power-feed circuits from configurable definitions. Its available representations include single-phase, three-phase and one-line circuits. A spreadsheet defines circuit choices and defaults, drawing templates establish wiring and component positions, and an electrical standards database supplies suggested annotation values and power-wire sizes and types.
As you configure a circuit, AutoCAD Electrical inserts its components, adds the wiring between them and adjusts the power bus to the drawing’s wire bus. Suggested values depend on the selected load. Parent coils and child contacts can be linked during construction so that related symbols receive the same tag.
Previously configured circuits remain in a history list for reinsertion. Circuit definitions can also be extended or edited.
PLC drawings
PLC input/output assignments can drive the creation of schematic sheets. The PLC I/O utility reads a spreadsheet, database or comma-delimited text file and generates multiple drawings from that data.
The setup controls the number and type of ladders, rung spacing, reference numbering, module appearance and inline-device placement. You can give each module its own ladder, place another module only when it fits, or allow modules to split across ladders and drawings. A selected template supplies the starting drawing layout.
AutoCAD Electrical can generate the set continuously or pause between drawings for adjustments. New drawings can be added to the active project, and the setup can be saved for reuse with another input file.
Panel footprints
Panel layouts represent the physical placement of components using footprint blocks. AutoCAD Electrical can build a selection list from schematic devices in chosen drawings. The manufacturer and catalog values identify the corresponding footprint in the database; you then choose its insertion point and orientation.
The schematic’s component values copy to the footprint, and the selection list marks items that have already been inserted.
Footprints can also be inserted from an equipment list or selected manually. When a suitable block is missing, you can draw a representation, use an existing block or add a lookup entry to the footprint database.
Terminal strips
The Terminal Strip Editor brings terminal blocks, their connected devices and their catalog assignments into one view. You can renumber selected terminals, define multiple levels, associate connections with those levels and assign jumpers. Internal and external destination assignments distinguish the two sides of a terminal connection.
The editor also manages spare terminals and accessories. Its layout preview produces a graphical strip or a table representation for insertion into a drawing. After editing a strip, Rebuild or Refresh updates the existing representation. Spare terminals and accessories require the graphical strip to be inserted or rebuilt for those additions to be retained.
Electrical reports
AutoCAD Electrical uses drawing information to produce component, wiring and bill-of-material reports. Automatic Reports runs a selected group of reports together and can save files, place tables in drawings or do both.
Format files define the included fields, their order and the table-output settings before the run. A saved report group lets you reuse the same collection of report formats. When a matching report table already exists with the same scope and format, the program updates it; otherwise, it creates drawings for the new tables.
