JP7630304B2 - Wiring design system and wiring design method - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a wiring design system and a wiring design method.

In the manufacturing environment of panel systems such as control panels, wiring work is required to ensure electrical connections between the on-board devices. Typically, wiring between terminals using electric wires (cables) is required to connect the power supply wiring and to send and receive signals between devices.

Generally, such cable wiring is done according to an electrical circuit diagram that is separate from the drawing (assembly diagram) showing the panel structure and the installation location of the equipment. In recent years, due to factors such as the miniaturization of installed equipment and a shortage of skilled workers, there is an increasing need to create such electrical circuit diagrams so that workers can easily understand the contents of the wiring work.

As part of this technology, International Publication No. 2017/149652 (Patent Document 1) describes a program for wiring wire harnesses that is provided to enable wiring work of wire harnesses to be completed in a short period of time without the need for skilled workers.

According to the wiring work program of Patent Document 1, in a virtual route space showing all the wiring routes of the wire harness, wiring process selection buttons are displayed corresponding to the order of the wiring processes, thereby visually notifying the worker of the correspondence of the current process to the overall process. Furthermore, in response to the operation of the wiring process selection button, the wiring position of the corresponding wire harness is displayed superimposed on the virtual route space. In this way, by visually notifying the worker of information related to the wiring work of the wire harness, it is possible to shorten the time for wiring the wire harness without requiring skill.

International Publication No. 2017/149652

However, in the wiring work described above, there are cases where the overall electrical connections required between all of the on-board equipment cannot be ensured by direct cable connections due to restrictions such as the number of wires that can be connected to each terminal of the on-board equipment and the wire diameter. In such cases, it is necessary to ensure the overall electrical connections by using a relay terminal block that has multiple relay terminals that are electrically interconnected.

In addition, in recent years, as the functions of control panels have become more diverse, there has been an increasing demand for them to be smaller, lighter, and less expensive. As a result, the volume ratio of equipment inside the control panel housing has increased, and there is a demand for a reduction in the wiring paths of the electric wires (harnesses) and even shorter electric wires. In response to this, when the relay terminal block described above is introduced, the wiring length changes depending on its placement position. For this reason, it is necessary to position the relay terminal block in order to reduce the wiring length, but there is a concern that if this positioning is designed manually, the design load will increase significantly.

The present disclosure has been made to solve these problems, and the purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a wiring design system and wiring design method that has an automatic positioning function for relay terminal blocks to reduce wiring length.

In one aspect of the present invention, a wiring design system between multiple devices stored in a housing includes an information storage unit and a design information processing unit. The information storage unit stores design information indicating the contents of multiple electrical connections designed in advance between the multiple devices. The design information processing unit uses the design information to design a connection mode between multiple terminals of the multiple devices. The design information includes terminal block candidate position information, connection information, and structural information for determining the space available for arranging electric wires in the housing. The terminal block candidate position information indicates multiple candidate positions in the housing where multiple relay terminal blocks equipped with multiple relay terminals can be arranged. The connection information includes, for each electrical connection, position information of multiple connection destination terminals to be interconnected, information on the need to introduce a relay terminal block in the electrical connection, and information on the connection correspondence relationship between the multiple connection destinations and the multiple relay terminals when the relay terminal block is introduced. The design information processing unit includes a wiring length calculation unit and a relay terminal block position determination unit. The wiring length calculation unit uses the connection information, structure information, and terminal block candidate position information to perform a prediction calculation of the wiring lengths of multiple electric wires for interconnecting multiple connection destinations when the placement position of the relay terminal block is determined to be one of the multiple candidate positions, corresponding to the electrical connection into which the relay terminal block is introduced. The relay terminal block position determination unit determines the placement position of the relay terminal block from the multiple candidate positions based on a comparison of the predicted wiring length values obtained by the wiring length calculation unit when the relay terminal block is placed at each of the multiple candidate positions.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method for designing wiring between multiple devices stored in a housing includes the steps of extracting design information indicating the contents of multiple electrical connections designed in advance between the multiple devices from a database, and using the design information to design a connection mode between multiple terminals of the multiple devices. The design information includes terminal block candidate position information, connection information, and structural information for determining the space available for arranging electric wires in the housing. The terminal block candidate position information indicates multiple candidate positions in the housing where multiple relay terminal blocks equipped with multiple relay terminals can be arranged. The connection information includes, for each electrical connection, position information of multiple connection destination terminals to be interconnected, information on the need to introduce a relay terminal block in the electrical connection, and information on the connection correspondence relationship between the multiple connection destinations and the multiple relay terminals when the relay terminal block is introduced. The designing step includes a step of using connection information, structure information, and terminal block candidate position information to perform a prediction calculation of the wiring lengths of multiple electric wires for interconnecting multiple connection destinations when the placement position of the relay terminal block is determined to be one of multiple candidate positions, corresponding to the electrical connection in which the relay terminal block is introduced, and a step of determining the placement position of the relay terminal block from the multiple candidate positions based on a comparison of the predicted wiring length values obtained by the prediction calculation when the relay terminal block is placed at each of the multiple candidate positions.

According to the present disclosure, by performing wiring length prediction calculations when each of multiple candidate positions for the relay terminal block is set, it is possible to realize a wiring design that has an automatic positioning function for the relay terminal block to reduce the wiring length.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a wiring design system according to a first embodiment. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of the structure of a control panel to which the wiring design system is applied; 2 is a table illustrating an example of a data structure of design information read out from the design information DB of FIG. 1 . FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of connection information between devices. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a control process by the wiring design system according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the contents of a relay terminal block position determination process and a wiring route confirmation process shown in FIG. 5 . 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of selecting a wiring route for electrical connection without using a relay terminal block. FIG. FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a wiring design system according to a second embodiment. 9 is a table for explaining an example of a data structure of design information read out from the design information DB of FIG. 8 . FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the layers of electrical connections in the second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the contents of a relay terminal block position determination process and a wiring route confirmation process in the wiring design system according to the second embodiment.

The following describes in detail the embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the drawings. Note that, in the following, the same or equivalent parts in the drawings are given the same reference numerals, and in principle, their descriptions will not be repeated.

Embodiment 1.
1, the wiring design system 1a according to the first embodiment includes an input device 10, an output device 20, a processing device 30, and a design information database (DB) 40. The wiring design system 1a can be used to design panel systems such as control panels and power panels. As will be described later, the wiring design system 1a has an automatic positioning function for relay terminal blocks.

The input device 10 is provided for the development worker to input operations for storing information in the memory unit 32 of the processing device 30 and operations for commanding the execution of processing of each function described below. For example, the input device 10 can be configured with a keyboard (KB), mouse, microphone, etc. It is also possible to configure the input device 10 so that at least a part of the information stored in the memory unit 32 is input from an auxiliary storage device such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or from another device via a receiving interface such as a parallel bus or serial bus, or a network.

The output device 20 is provided so that the development worker can check the information input from the input device 10 and the information stored in the memory unit 32 of the processing device 30. For example, the output device 20 is configured to include a liquid crystal display, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display, an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, etc. Alternatively, the output device 20 may include a printer or plotter that prints information in the form of characters, images, etc.

The processing device 30 typically includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and further includes a memory unit 32.

The memory unit 32 has a function of temporarily storing information input to the input device 10, information output from the output device 20, and information required by the design information processing unit 33. Furthermore, the memory unit 32 stores various information for the operation of the wiring design system 1a. For example, the memory unit 32 can be configured with a hard disk device, a replaceable magnetic storage device, or a semiconductor storage device.

The processing device 30 has an arithmetic processing unit 31 and a design information processing unit 33 that are realized by the execution of a program by the CPU. The arithmetic processing unit 31 has the overall function of software processing, such as receiving information from the memory unit 32 according to commands input to the input device 10 and passing the information to the design information processing unit 33 and the output device 20.

Before describing the design information processing unit 33, which realizes the main functions of this disclosure, the configuration of a control panel that is an application example of the automatic wiring design according to this disclosure will be described using FIG. 2, which shows an example of the structure of a typical control panel, etc.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control panel 100 includes a housing 110, a plurality of devices 120 stored in the internal space of the housing 110, electric wires (cables) 130 for connecting the devices 120, and a structure 140 such as a partition plate and a relay terminal block 150 arranged inside the housing 110.

The multiple devices 120 include power devices, relays, switches, meters, inverters, etc. Each device 120 may be a standalone device, or, as described below, multiple devices may be combined into one unit. Each device 120 is attached to the housing 110 or the structure 140, and has a terminal (not shown) for ensuring electrical connection between the devices 120 and the other devices 120 via the electric wires 130.

The electrical connections required between the devices 120 in the control panel 100 are all defined in advance by electrical circuit diagrams or the like. The internal structure of the control panel 100, i.e., the housing 110, the structure 140, and the positional information of the devices 120, as well as the positional information of each terminal of the devices 120, are also defined in advance by general three-dimensional CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. In other words, the wiring design system according to this embodiment is premised on the ability to acquire design information for wiring, such as information related to these electrical connections and positional information.

The terminals of the device 120 are either directly connected by an electric wire 130 or electrically connected via a relay terminal block 150.

As shown in FIG. 2, the relay terminal block 150 has a plurality of relay terminals 152 (152a to 152d in FIG. 2) and at least one current-carrying conductor 154 (154a, 154b in FIG. 2). The current-carrying conductor 154 can be formed, for example, from an electric wire or a metal plate.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, relay terminals 152a to 152c are interconnected by current-carrying conductor 154a, and relay terminals 152d and 152e are interconnected by current-carrying conductor 154b. This allows terminal Tx connected to relay terminal 152a, terminal Ty connected to relay terminal 152b, and terminal Tz connected to relay terminal 152c to be electrically interconnected via relay terminal block 150.

Similarly, terminal Tw connected to relay terminal 152d and terminal Tv connected to relay terminal 152e can be electrically connected via relay terminal block 150, independently of terminals Tx to Tz.

Next, we will further explain the design information processing unit 33 using Figure 1 again.

The design information processing unit 33 has a device information storage unit 330, a connection information storage unit 331, a relay terminal block information storage unit 332, a structure information storage unit 333, a relay terminal block setting unit 334, a wiring length calculation unit 335, and a relay terminal block installation position determination unit 336.

As described above, the typical components of the control panel are the housing 110 and structure 140 as fixing members, the equipment 120 stored in the internal space of the housing, the wires 130 connecting the equipment, and the relay terminal block 150. However, in this embodiment, information related to other design elements that are not directly mentioned can also be used as necessary.

The device information storage unit 330 has a function of storing information on the shape of each device 120 mounted in the control panel 100 and the number of terminals provided on each device 120 to which the electric wires 130 are connected, as well as device-specific information required for connecting electric wires, such as the number of connectable electric wires allocated to each terminal and the diameter of connectable electric wires.

The relay terminal block information storage unit 332 has a function of storing information for each of the multiple relay terminal blocks 150 that can be used in wiring design for the relay terminal blocks 150 described in FIG. 2, specifically, information specific to the relay terminal block 150 required for wire connection, such as the number of relay terminals 152 possessed by each relay terminal block 150, the number of short-circuitable terminals that are interconnected with the current-carrying conductors 154 to have the same potential, the diameter of connectable wires, and the number of wires that can be connected per relay terminal 152. Furthermore, the relay terminal block information storage unit 332 stores information related to multiple predetermined candidate positions for installing the relay terminal blocks 150.

The connection information storage unit 331 has a function of storing electrical connection information between multiple terminals of the devices 120 for each of the multiple electrical connections (all) required between the multiple devices 120 in the control panel 100 that have been designed in advance. As described below, the connection information includes information on the relay terminal blocks 150 used for each electrical connection.

The structural information storage unit 333 has a function of storing structural information for determining the wiring space. As described below, the structural information includes information indicating the area in which the housing 110 and the structure 140 exist. For example, in a three-dimensional space, the spatial area obtained by excluding the area in which the equipment 120 and the structure 140 exist from the internal space of the housing 110 can be regarded as the wiring space, i.e., the area in which the electric wire 130 can be arranged.

The relay terminal block setting unit 334 has a function of setting the connection correspondence relationship between each connection destination terminal and each relay terminal 152 for each relay terminal block 150 to be introduced based on the connection information and relay terminal block information. This allows each combination of terminals and relay terminals 152 to be subject to prediction calculation by the wiring length calculation unit 335 to be developed.

The wiring length calculation unit 335 performs a prediction calculation of the wiring distance between the terminal (connection destination) and the relay terminal 125, taking into account the positional relationship with the wiring space obtained from the structural information for each connection correspondence relationship set by the relay terminal block setting unit 334.

The relay terminal block installation position determination unit 336 has the function of determining the placement position of each relay terminal block 150 from multiple possible installation candidates using the wiring distance prediction value calculated by the wiring length calculation unit 335 so that the total wiring length is suppressed.

The design information DB 40 corresponds to a collection of data that includes design information held by a known design device such as the control panel 100, a CAD system for designing a so-called structural design, and information required for manufacturing the control panel 100, as well as information required by the wiring setting system according to this embodiment. The design information DB 40 corresponds to one example of an "information storage unit."

Figure 3 shows an example of the data structure of design information read from the design information DB 40 to the processing device 30.

As shown in FIG. 3, the design information stored in the design information DB 40 includes equipment information, relay terminal block information, terminal block candidate position information, connection information, and, as an example of structural information, panel housing outline information and support/structure information.

As device information relating to the multiple devices 120, a device ID is assigned to each of the multiple devices 120, and for each device ID, the dimensional information (width, height, depth) of the device 120 and the number of terminals for electrical connection (number of connection terminals) are stored.

Furthermore, a terminal ID is assigned to each terminal of each device 120. For each terminal ID, information on the three-dimensional position of the device terminal, as well as the number of connectable wires and wire diameter information is stored.

For each terminal, the minimum required wire diameter is specified according to the current value to be passed and the voltage value to be applied. At the same time, due to structural constraints of the device 120, the maximum diameter of the wire that can be connected is also specified. As a result, the diameter of the wire that can be connected is preset for each device terminal (each terminal ID).

As relay terminal block information, a terminal block ID is assigned to each relay terminal block 150 that is a candidate for use. The number of block terminals is stored for each terminal block ID. For example, in the relay terminal block 150 illustrated in FIG. 2, the number of block terminals is "2" because terminals can be electrically connected individually in each of the groups of relay terminals 152a to 152c and 152d and 152e. Furthermore, for each block terminal, the number of terminals that can be shorted, the diameter (range) of connectable electric wires, and the number of connectable electric wires are stored.

For example, for the "stand terminal" consisting of relay terminals 152a to 152c in FIG. 2, the number of short-circuitable terminals is "3", and the logical sum of the conditions related to the total number of connectable terminals to relay terminals 152a to 152c and the range of connectable wire diameters is stored. Also, for the "stand terminal" consisting of relay terminals 152d and 152e in FIG. 2, the number of short-circuitable terminals is "2", and similarly, the logical sum of the total number of connectable terminals to relay terminals 152d and 152e and the range of connectable wire diameters is stored.

As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal block installation candidate information is a candidate position ID for each of the multiple terminal block installation candidates, and for each ID, reference position coordinates (x, y, z) and length and width information for identifying the area of the candidate position are stored.

Furthermore, a connection ID is assigned to each electrical connection as connection information that defines the electrical connection between devices 120. For each connection ID, N pieces of connection destination information (N: an integer of 2 or more) that specify multiple connection destinations to be interconnected and signal constraint information are stored. Each piece of connection destination information is associated with the connection ID, making it possible to obtain attribute information required for connecting electric wires to the terminals of the connection destinations (e.g., terminal position coordinates, number of connectable electric wires, electric wire diameter, etc.).

The signal constraint information is information indicating whether or not the transmission of a reset signal or a collective stop signal corresponds to an electrical connection in which the connection of wires between devices 120 in series (daisy chain) is prohibited due to specifications. Due to product reliability constraints, predetermined signals such as the above-mentioned reset signal and collective stop signal are required to be distributed in parallel from the signal-emitting terminal to the terminals of each device, that is, to be distributed by connecting the terminals in parallel. Therefore, when there is a signal constraint, the electrical connection is realized using the relay terminal block 150. The signal constraint information indicates whether or not the electrical connection corresponds to the above-mentioned predetermined signal transmission for each connection ID.

Furthermore, each connection ID stores information on whether a relay terminal block 150 is required for the interconnection of the N connection destinations, and if one or more relay terminal blocks 150 are introduced, the ID of each relay terminal block 150 and the terminal ID of the connection destination for each relay terminal 152 of that relay terminal block ID are stored.

Figure 4 shows a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of connection information between devices.

As shown in FIG. 4, device 120a has terminals Ta1 and Ta2, device 120b has terminals Tb1 to Tb3, device 120c has terminals Tc1 and Tc2, and device 120d has terminals Td1, Td2 to Td3. Relay terminal block 150a has relay terminals 152a to 152c.

It is assumed that three electrical connections are predefined between devices 120a to 120d. A unique connection ID is assigned to each electrical connection.

For example, the electrical connection of terminals Ta1, Tb3, and Tc2 is assigned the connection ID "IDx1". For IDx1, terminals Ta1, Tb3, and Tc2 are stored as connection destinations 1 to 3. Furthermore, for IDx1, it is set that relay terminal block 150a is introduced, and that relay terminal 152a is connected to terminal Ta1, relay terminal 152b is connected to terminal Tc2, and relay terminal 152c is connected to terminal Tb3, and these connection correspondences are stored as part of the connection information. The combinations of these relay terminals 152a to 152c with terminals Ta1, Tc2, and Tb3 are determined based on the information on each device terminal and relay terminal block information described above, specifically, the number of connectable electric wires and the electric wire diameter information.

Similarly, the electrical connection of terminals Ta2, Tb1, and Tc1 is assigned the connection ID "IDx2". For IDx2, terminals Ta2, Tb1, and Tc1 are stored as connection destinations 1 to 3. Furthermore, for IDx2, it is determined that the relay terminal block 150 is not introduced, that is, the connection between terminals Ta1, Tb1, and Tc1 is made by electric wire 130, and this is stored as part of the connection information.

In addition, in electrical connections between three or more terminals without using the relay terminal block 150, there is a degree of freedom in the arrangement of the electric wires 130. That is, in the example of FIG. 4, terminals Ta1 and Tb1 are connected by electric wire 130a, and terminals Tb1 and Tc1 are connected by electric wire 130b, but as long as there is no problem with the number of electric wires that can be connected to each terminal and the diameter of the electric wires, it is also possible to use an arrangement in which two terminals are connected by two electric wires, different from the above.

The electrical connection between terminals Tb2 and Td1 is assigned the connection ID "IDx3". For IDx3, terminals Tb2 and Td1 are stored as connection destination 1 and connection destination 2, and it is determined that the relay terminal block 150 is not introduced. This information is also stored as part of the connection information.

Returning to FIG. 3, structural information for determining the wiring space is read from the design information DB 40 to the processing device 30. In the example of FIG. 3, the structural information includes panel case outer shape information and structure information. In addition, the position information indicating the area in which the device 120 exists, as described above, is also included as part of the structural information for determining the wiring space.

The panel housing outer shape information stores reference position coordinates (x, y, z) and thickness, height, and depth information for identifying the presence area of each wall of the housing 110 in three-dimensional space. The structural information stores an ID for each of the structures 140 such as the pillars, partitions, and shelves shown in FIG. 2, and stores reference position coordinates (x, y, z) and orientation, length, width, and thickness information for identifying the presence area of the structure 140 for each ID. As described above, the structural information can be used to determine the space where wiring is possible, i.e., the area where the electrical wires 130 can be placed.

Next, an example of the operation of the wiring design system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 5 and 6. The control process shown in the flowcharts of Figs. 5 and 6 can be realized by software processing in which the processing device 30 (Fig. 1) executes a program stored in advance.

As shown in FIG. 5, in step (hereinafter simply referred to as "S") 110, the processing device 30 extracts from the design information DB 40 design information for the control panel 100 that is the subject of wiring design and that is specified by user input to the input device 10.

Furthermore, in S120, the processing device 30 stores the device information of the design information extracted in S110 in the device information storage unit 330, and stores the connection information in the connection information storage unit 331. In S130, the processing device 30 stores the structural information for determining the wiring space from the design information extracted in S110 in the structural information storage unit 333.

Furthermore, in S140, the processing device 30 stores the relay terminal block information and terminal block candidate position information from the design information extracted in S110 in the relay terminal block information storage unit 332. Following S120 to S140, the processing device 30 executes a setting process for the relay terminal block 150 in S150. In S150, the relay terminal block setting unit 334 determines the connection correspondence relationship between each connection destination terminal and each relay terminal 152 for each relay terminal block 150 to be introduced based on the connection information and relay terminal block information.

The processing device 30 executes the relay terminal block position determination process in S200 and the connection mode determination process in S300 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6.

As shown in FIG. 6, S200 for the relay terminal block position determination process in FIG. 5 includes S210 to S290, and S300 for the connection mode determination process includes S310 to S330.

In S210, the processing device 30 uses the structural information stored in S130 to determine the wiring space within the three-dimensional space inside the housing 100. The wiring length prediction calculation in S250, which will be described later, is performed after restricting the route of the electric wire 130 within the wiring space.

In S215, the processing device 30 sorts the multiple connection IDs included in the connection information stored in S120 in descending order of the number of connection destinations (N). Furthermore, connection IDs with the same connection destination (N) are sorted in descending order of the number of devices 120 that include the connection destination. In this way, the multiple connection IDs are sorted in descending order of the number of terminals and devices that are connection destinations.

In S220, the processing device 30 sequentially sets one of the multiple connection IDs according to the sorting order in S215. In S230, the processing device 30 determines whether the electrical connection to realize the connection ID set in S220 requires the introduction of a relay terminal block 150. The determination in S220 is made based on information included in the connection information indicating whether the relay terminal block 150 is required.

For a connection ID in which the relay terminal block 150 is installed (YES at S230), the processing device 30 performs the processes of S240 to S280 to determine the placement position of the relay terminal block 150. On the other hand, for a connection ID in which the relay terminal block 150 is not installed (NO at S230), the wiring route is selected by the processes of S310 and S320 described below.

In S240, the processing device 30 sequentially sets one of multiple candidate position IDs indicating multiple terminal block installation candidates. In S250, a prediction calculation is performed for the wiring length of the electric wire 130 connecting the relay terminal block 150 and the N connection destinations (terminals) according to the connection correspondence relationship between at least one relay terminal 152 and the N connection destinations when the relay terminal block 150 is placed at the position corresponding to the candidate position ID set in S240. The sum of the predicted wiring length values by S250 is temporarily stored in association with the candidate position ID by S260.

When the processing device 30 executes the processes of S250 and S260 for the candidate position IDs set in S240, it determines in S270 whether the processes of S250 and S260 have been completed for all candidate position IDs and whether a predicted wiring length value has been obtained.

If there are any candidate position IDs remaining for which no predicted wiring length value has been obtained, a NO determination is made in S270, and processing returns to S240 to switch the setting of the candidate position ID. As a result, processing in S240 to S260 is repeated until the predicted wiring length calculation has been applied to all candidate position IDs.

When predicted wiring lengths have been obtained for all candidate position IDs, S270 is judged as YES and processing proceeds to S280. At this point, predicted wiring lengths corresponding to each of the candidate position IDs set in order in S240 are stored.

In S280, the processing device 30 extracts one candidate position ID based on a comparison of the multiple wiring length prediction values stored in S260. For example, the candidate position ID corresponding to the minimum value of the multiple wiring length prediction values is extracted. Then, the terminal block candidate position corresponding to the extracted candidate position ID is selected as the position of the relay terminal block 150 to be used with that connection ID. Note that once the candidate position ID is selected in S280, it is excluded from the design target in the subsequent processing in S240, i.e., from the terminal block installation candidates of other relay terminal blocks 150.

In addition, if the connection ID set in S210 is for introducing multiple relay terminal blocks 150, the placement positions of each relay terminal block 150 can be selected by executing the processes of S240 to S280 in order starting from the relay terminal block 150 with the most connections.

On the other hand, for a connection ID in which the relay terminal block 150 is not installed (NO in S230), the processing device 30, in S310, determines combinations of two connection destinations that can be connected by wires 130 from among the multiple connection destinations (connection destination 1 to connection destination N) included in the connection ID, based on the number of wires that can be connected to each terminal and the wire diameter. Furthermore, for each combination, a predicted calculation of the wiring length between the two connection destinations is performed in the same manner as in S250. These combinations indicate multiple wiring routes.

Furthermore, in S320, the processing device 30 selects a wiring route that minimizes the wiring length based on a comparison of the predicted wiring length values of each of the multiple wiring routes obtained in S310. As a result, even for a connection ID (electrical connection) in which the relay terminal block 150 is not introduced, a wiring route that suppresses the wiring length can be selected.

Figure 7 shows a conceptual diagram explaining an example of wiring route selection in S320.

As shown in FIG. 7, for an electrical connection (connection ID) that includes terminals T1 to T3 as connection destinations, the predicted wiring length D12 between terminals T1 and T2, the predicted wiring length D13 between terminals T1 and T3, and the predicted wiring length D23 between terminals T2 and T3 are calculated in S310 according to the combination of two terminals. Note that here, it is assumed that the wire diameters of terminals T1 to T3 are the same.

To electrically connect terminals T1 to T3 without using the intermediate terminal block 150, it is necessary to connect two of terminals T1 to T3 with two electric wires 130a, 130b. In the example of FIG. 7, it is assumed that D12<D13<D23. Note that in FIG. 7, for ease of explanation, the straight-line distance between terminals is expressed as the equivalent of the wiring length, but in reality, due to constraints imposed by the shapes of the equipment 120 and the structure 140, etc., and the positional relationship with the wiring space defined by the duct arrangement, etc., the wiring length is not simply the straight-line distance, so we would like to clarify this.

Figure 7(a) shows a wiring route connecting terminals T1 and T3, and terminals T2 and T3, with electric wires 130a and 130b, and Figure 7(b) shows a wiring route connecting terminals T1 and T3, and terminals T1 and T2, with electric wires 130a and 130c.

In the example of Figure 7, of D12+D13, D13+D23, and D12+D23, D12+D13 is the smallest, so in S320, the wiring route in Figure 7(b) is selected.

Returning to FIG. 6, when processing of S280 for a connection ID in which a relay terminal block is installed or processing of S320 for a connection ID in which a relay terminal block is not installed is completed, processing proceeds to S290.

In S290, the processing device 30 determines whether or not the setting of all connection IDs in S220 has been completed. Until all connection IDs have been set in S220 (NO in S290), the process returns to S210. In S210, the next connection ID is set according to the sorting order in S215.

As a result, at the stage where the setting of all connection IDs has been completed in S220 (YES determination in S290), the placement positions of each relay terminal block 150 can be determined for all connection IDs to which the relay terminal block 150 is introduced, with priority given to relay terminal blocks 150 with the most connection destinations, and terminal block installation candidates with the smallest predicted wiring length values are selected in sequence. As a result, the placement positions of all relay terminal blocks 150 and the predicted wiring lengths between each relay terminal 152 and each connection destination are determined.

Furthermore, when the determination of S290 is YES, the wiring route for reducing the wiring length has been selected for all connection IDs in which the relay terminal block 150 is not installed, and the wiring length of the electric wire 130 connecting the terminals has been determined.

When the determination of S290 is YES, the processing device 30 can determine the connection state between the N connection destinations for each connection ID in which the overall wiring length is suppressed by S330. Furthermore, it is possible to create a list of predicted wiring length values for each electric wire 130 for each of the determined electrical connections. The determination result obtained in S300 can be output by the output device 20.

In this way, according to the wiring design system of embodiment 1, in the wiring design to ensure electrical connection between the terminals of multiple predefined devices 120, the position of the relay terminal block 150 can be automatically set to minimize the predicted wiring length, so that the wiring length can be suppressed without increasing the design burden on the development worker.

At this time, by executing the processes of S220 to S280 in order starting from the connection ID with the most connections, the placement position of the relay terminal block 150 to be introduced into the electrical connection with the most connections can be determined preferentially based on the wiring length prediction value. This makes it possible to reduce the overall wiring length related to the relay terminal block 150 introduced in multiple connection IDs.

Furthermore, even for electrical connections that do not use relay terminal blocks 150, the wiring route can be selected to minimize the predicted wiring length, further reducing the design burden on the development workers and suppressing the wiring length.

Embodiment 2.
In recent years, in control panels, multiple devices are integrated into one unit to improve ease of installation and replacement. Hereinafter, the unitized unit housed in the same case is referred to as a "subunit." For example, in the structural example of FIG. 2, at least some of the devices 120 are configured as subunits including multiple devices housed inside a case.

As shown in FIG. 8, the wiring design system 1b according to the second embodiment differs from the wiring design system 1a according to the first embodiment in that the design information processing unit 33 of the processing device 30 further includes a subunit information storage unit 337 in addition to the device information storage unit 330, connection information storage unit 331, relay terminal block information storage unit 332, structure information storage unit 333, relay terminal block setting unit 334, wiring length calculation unit 335, and relay terminal block installation position determination unit 336 shown in FIG. 1. Furthermore, in the second embodiment, information that is read from the design information DB 40 to the processing device 30 is added.

Figure 11 shows an example of the data structure of design information read by the processing device 30 from the design information DB 40 in Figure 10.

As shown in FIG. 11, in the second embodiment, in addition to the device information, relay terminal block information, terminal block candidate position information, connection information, and structure information (panel casing external shape information and structure information) similar to the first embodiment (FIG. 4), subunit information is read from the design information DB 40 to the processing device 30.

The subunit information includes information (e.g., device ID) that identifies device 1 to device M (M: an integer of 2 or more) included in the subunit, corresponding to the ID given to each subunit, and the reference coordinates (x, y, z), width, depth, and height of the case in which the subunit is stored. In the second embodiment, the position information of the case is also used as part of the structural information for determining the space in which wiring is possible.

As shown in FIG. 10, in the second embodiment, the electrical connections between terminals are classified into connections within the subunit, connections with the outside of the subunit, and connections between subunits.

In the example of FIG. 10, devices 120w, 120x, 120y, and 120z stored in case 125 are combined into one unit to form subunit 121. FIG. 10 illustrates a total of five electrical connections with connection IDs IDy1, IDy2, and IDz1 to IDz3. Of these electrical connections, the electrical connections indicated by IDy1 and IDy2 connect devices 120w to 120y and devices 120x and 120y within the same subunit 121.

On the other hand, the electrical connection with a connection ID of IDz1 connects terminal Tz1 of device 120z to an external connection destination of subunit 121. Similarly, the electrical connections with connection IDs of IDz2 and IDz3 connect terminals Tw1 and Tw2 of device 120w to external connection destinations of subunit 121.

In the wiring design system according to the second embodiment, the processing device 30 also executes the processes of S110 to S150, S200, and S300 shown in FIG. 5. In the second embodiment, the control process of S200 is changed to the process shown in FIG. 11.

As shown in FIG. 11, in the second embodiment, in addition to the control process shown in FIG. 6, the process of S225 is executed between S220 and S230.

In S225, the processing device 30 determines whether the electrical connection based on the connection ID set in S220 is completed within the subunit, i.e., whether it is a connection within the subunit. As a result, in the example of FIG. 10, when the connection ID is IDy1 or IDy2, a YES determination is made in S225. On the other hand, when the connection ID is any of IDz1 to IDz3, a NO determination is made in S225.

For example, in S225, it can be determined whether the devices to which the N connection destination terminals included in the set connection ID belong are included in the same subunit by referring to the subunit information.

When the electrical connection based on the connection ID set in S220 is not a connection within a subunit (NO in S225), the processing device 30 executes the same processes of S230 to S280 as in embodiment 1 for that connection ID.

On the other hand, when the electrical connection based on the connection ID set in S220 is a connection within a subunit (YES determination in S225), the processing device 30 skips the processes of S230 to S280 and proceeds to S290. As a result, the connections between terminals within the subunit are excluded from the selection of the position of the relay terminal block 150 and the selection of the wiring route for reducing the wiring length, as described in the first embodiment.

As a result, according to the wiring design system of the second embodiment, in wiring design for ensuring electrical connections between subunits 121 or between subunits 121 and other devices 120, with subunits 121 being a unit consisting of multiple devices, the position of the relay terminal block 150 can be automatically set or a wiring route can be selected so as to minimize the predicted wiring length. This makes it possible to suppress the wiring length without increasing the design burden on the development worker.

In the first and second embodiments, the connection information described in FIG. 4 and FIG. 9 may also include dummy connections that connect terminals that do not need to be connected in the current design stage. For example, by adding a connection ID of a dummy connection that includes a specific device and terminal that are likely to have an increased number of device connections due to a later design change, etc., it is possible to provide a spare relay terminal block 150 that can be used in response to the above design change.

In addition, in the first and second embodiments, examples of wiring design in a control panel 100 have been described, but the wiring design pattern and wiring design method according to the present disclosure can be applied not only to the control panel 100 but also to the wiring design of any device that has multiple electrically connected devices.

The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The technical scope of the present disclosure is indicated by the claims rather than the above description, and it is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims.

1a, 1b Wiring design system, 10 Input device, 20 Output device, 30 Processing device, 31 Calculation processing unit, 32 Storage unit, 33 Design information processing unit, 40 Design information DB, 100 Control panel, 110 Housing, 120, 120a to 120d, 120w to 120z Equipment, 121 Subunit, 125 Case, 130, 130a, 130b Electric wire, 140 Structure, 152, 152a to 152e Relay terminal, 154, 154a, 154b Current-carrying conductor, 330 Equipment information storage unit, 331 Connection information storage unit, 332 Relay terminal block information storage unit, 333 Structure information storage unit, 334 Relay terminal block setting unit, 335 Wiring length calculation unit, 336 Relay terminal block installation position determination unit, 337 Subunit information storage section, T1-T3, Ta1, Ta2, Tb1-Tb3, Tc1, Tc2, Td1, Td2, Tw1-Tw3, Tz1 terminals.

Claims (10)

A wiring design system for a plurality of devices housed in a housing, comprising:
an information storage unit in which design information indicating the contents of a plurality of electrical connections designed in advance between the plurality of devices is stored;
a design information processing unit that uses the design information to design a connection mode between a plurality of terminals of the plurality of devices,
The design information is
Terminal block candidate position information indicating a plurality of candidate positions where a plurality of relay terminal blocks each having a plurality of relay terminals mounted thereon can be arranged within the housing;
connection information including, for each of the electrical connections, position information of terminals to be connected as a plurality of connection destinations, information on whether the relay terminal block is required to be introduced in the electrical connection, and information on a connection correspondence relationship between the plurality of connection destinations and the plurality of relay terminals when the relay terminal block is introduced;
structural information for determining an available space for arranging electric wires in the housing;
The design information processing unit includes:
a wiring length calculation unit that uses the connection information, the structure information, and the terminal block candidate position information to perform a prediction calculation of wiring lengths of a plurality of electric wires for interconnecting the plurality of connection destinations when the arrangement position of the intermediate terminal block is determined to be one of the plurality of candidate positions, in accordance with the electrical connection into which the intermediate terminal block is introduced;
and a relay terminal block position determination unit that determines a placement position of the relay terminal block from the plurality of candidate positions based on a comparison of predicted wiring length values obtained by the wiring length calculation unit when the relay terminal block is placed at each of the plurality of candidate positions. The wiring design system according to claim 1, wherein the relay terminal block position determination unit further determines the placement position of the relay terminal block to be introduced into the electrical connection with the largest number of connection destinations when there are multiple electrical connections into which the relay terminal block is introduced. the wiring length calculation unit, in response to an electrical connection in which the relay terminal block is not introduced, uses the connection information and the structure information to perform a prediction calculation of a wiring length for each of a plurality of wiring routes for interconnecting the terminals that are the plurality of connection destinations of the electrical connection;
The design information processing unit includes:
3. The wiring design system according to claim 1, further comprising: a wiring route for the electrical connection in which the relay terminal block is not introduced, the wiring route for the electrical connection having the shortest wiring length from among the plurality of wiring routes based on a comparison of predicted wiring length values calculated by the wiring length calculation unit corresponding to each of the plurality of wiring routes. At least a portion of the plurality of devices constitutes at least one subunit in which a plurality of the devices are housed in the same case;
The design information is
Further comprising subunit information for each of the subunits that identifies the plurality of devices included in the subunit;
The wiring design system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the design information processing unit, based on the subunit information, excludes from the processing by the wiring length calculation unit and the relay terminal block position determination unit, electrical connections among the plurality of electrical connections whose destinations are included in equipment within the same subunit. The wiring design system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the plurality of electrical connections included in the connection information includes dummy connections for electrically connecting terminals that do not require connection in the current design. A method for designing wiring between a plurality of devices housed in a housing, comprising the steps of:
A step of extracting design information indicating contents of a plurality of pre-designed electrical connections between the plurality of devices from a database by a processor ;
and a step of designing a connection mode between a plurality of terminals of the plurality of devices by using the design information,
The design information is
Terminal block candidate position information indicating a plurality of candidate positions where a plurality of relay terminal blocks each having a plurality of relay terminals mounted thereon can be arranged within the housing;
connection information including, for each of the electrical connections, position information of terminals to be connected as a plurality of connection destinations, information on whether the relay terminal block is required to be introduced in the electrical connection, and information on a connection correspondence relationship between the plurality of connection destinations and the plurality of relay terminals when the relay terminal block is introduced;
structural information for determining an available space for arranging electric wires in the housing;
The designing step includes:
a step of executing, by the processor, a prediction calculation of wiring lengths of a plurality of electric wires for interconnecting the plurality of connection destinations when a placement position of the intermediate terminal block is determined to be one of the plurality of candidate positions, using the connection information, the structure information, and the terminal block candidate position information in correspondence with an electrical connection into which the intermediate terminal block is introduced;
and determining a placement position of the relay terminal block from among the plurality of candidate positions based on a comparison of wiring length prediction values obtained by the prediction calculation when the relay terminal block is placed at each of the plurality of candidate positions. The designing step includes:
7. The wiring design method according to claim 6, further comprising a step in which, when there are a plurality of electrical connections into which the relay terminal block is to be introduced, the processor preferentially determines a placement position of the relay terminal block to be introduced into an electrical connection having a greater number of connection destinations. The designing step includes:
the processor, corresponding to an electrical connection in which the relay terminal block is not introduced, uses the connection information and the structure information to perform a prediction calculation of a wiring length for each of a plurality of wiring routes for interconnecting the terminals that are the plurality of connection destinations of the electrical connection;
8. The wiring design method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of: determining, by the processor, a wiring route for the electrical connection in which the relay terminal block is not introduced, which has the shortest wiring length from among the plurality of wiring routes, based on a comparison of wiring length prediction values obtained by the prediction calculation corresponding to each of the plurality of wiring routes. At least a portion of the plurality of devices constitutes at least one subunit in which a plurality of the devices are housed in the same case;
The design information is
Further comprising subunit information for each of the subunits that identifies the plurality of devices included in the subunit;
The designing step includes:
The wiring design method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, further comprising a step in which the processor excludes, based on the subunit information, electrical connections among the plurality of electrical connections whose connection destinations are included in equipment in the same subunit from targets for the predicted calculation of the wiring length and the determination of the placement position of the relay terminal block. The wiring design method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the plurality of electrical connections included in the connection information includes dummy connections for electrically connecting terminals that do not need to be connected in the current design.

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