Mentor Graphics has released the DC Analyzer, a circuit analysis and visualisation software tool that expands the electrical analysis capabilities of its logical cable (LCable) wire harness design product line. DC Analyzer will help wire harness designers in automotive, aerospace/defense, telecommunications and other industries reduce component costs and improve reliability issues often related to wire harness design and manufacturing, says the company.
DC Analyzer was developed to meet the specific needs of harness designers, and provides an intuitive environment to determine DC currents and voltage drops throughout system interconnects. Designers can use analysis results to revise the sizing of wires or fuses to reduce product weight while enhancing system reliability. DC Analyzer automatically highlights any portion of a design falling outside specified tolerances alerting designers to potential problem areas.
"With the advanced systems now found in all automobiles, we require more advanced analysis for wire harness design than ever before," stated Roland Winter, Research Engineer at DaimlerChrysler. "Mentor's DC Analyzer gives us the design insight we need to evaluate multiple options and scenarios for development before we commit the time and resources needed to create a prototype."
With electrical systems increasing in cost, content and complexity, it becomes critical for design engineers to verify designs and identify electrical problems in the early phases of the design process. In the past it was common to build harnesses prior to electrical testing, but with many firms moving wire harness production to outside suppliers it is now becoming unacceptable to wait for early production run harnesses to test electrical performance. Additionally, many automotive and aerospace vehicles are produced in dozens or hundreds of con- figurations, many of which require different sets of assembled wire harnesses. Tools such as DC Analyzer make it feasible to evaluate all wire harness configurations under varying operating conditions.
One of the biggest obstacles to performing electrical analysis of wire harnesses can be the difficulty of modelling components. To address this, DC Analyzer automatically inserts models for commonly used wire harness components, and includes a library of sample models that may be used to model circuit components and loads, allowing designers to build unique easy-to-build custom models.
DC Analyzer is the only commercial software product that incorporates the industry-standard SPICE3 circuit analysis technology transparently into the LCable environment, says Mentor Graphics. The SPICE3 program is highly regarded for its accuracy and robustness in analysis of ICs and board-level electronics. Through the integration of SPICE3 into DC Analyzer, design engineers can now use SPICE circuit analysis tools without possessing SPICE command syntax knowledge. It also enables access to thousands of SPICE simulator models offered by leading manufacturers over the Internet.
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