To Define or Correct Auto Routing Entry Points
- To open auto routing entry points select all cables .
-
Select the
Auto Routing Entry Points option from the
Ribbon menu.
Auto routing entry points dialog is displayed below:
Notice that all equipment has the same value for Maximum distance (10 ft) and Max Entry points (10).
Those default values come from project configuration options UDA settings > Cable UDA.
In the imperial dataset maximum distance is defined in feet, in the metric dataset it is defined in meters.
Maximum distance is a bounding sphere radius around equipment that is used to identify any raceway that will be considered for cable auto routing. Which cable tray will be selected depends on segregation criteria and available spare capacity. Bounding sphere radius is used to identify all potential raceways, not to select any specific raceway to be used for auto routing for selected equipment.
-
To preview maximum distance right-click on MCC1 and select
Visualize from the context menu.
Notice that several raceways are within 10 ft bounding sphere radius and all will be considered for cable routing from MCC1.
Maximum entry point number is used to define how many different raceways from identified selection set will be considered for cable routing.
For example changing Maximum entry point to 1 will result in only closet raceway to be selected as shown:
Having a large bounding sphere radius and high number of auto routing entry points will increase auto routing time since auto router has to evaluate many different options and select the best one.
- Since each project is different, try to select Max distance value that works the best for your project type. For example plant project may need smaller max distance value (raceway is closer to equipment) than power generation project (raceway may be further from equipment).
-
Alternative method of selecting raceway for auto routing is using
options Include and exclude.
The Include option is used to select raceway(s) that will be considered for cable routing by selecting their routing lines in routing model.
-
Click in the Includes field to and press the
icon when it displays.
-
Select the desired raceway in DGN file (use CTRL option to select
multiple raceways) then make data point anywhere in the routing file to get
back to Auto routing entry points dialog.
If selected raceway has an ID, IDs will be displayed
Sections defined in the Includes field may overwrite the settings in Max Distance and Max Entry Points #.
- To remove a selection defined in the Includes or Excludes section, right-click on the selection and select Delete from the context menu.
- The Excludes option is used to exclude a raceway that is included either by the settings in Max Distance and Max Entry Points or in the Includes option.
- If cable auto routing has failed, use the filter option from cable manager data grid to display only the cables with failed routing and auto routing entry points.
- Make adjustments to the entry points as necessary.
