General CAD
CAD is an abbreviation for 'Computer Aided Design'. The term covers all ways of using computer-based tools to create, modify, analyze or optimize a design, but it is primarily used to create and maintain drawings.
CAM is an abbreviation for 'Computer Aided Manufacturing'. The term is mainly used for mechanical products.
The technology can be traced back as far as the 1950s. During the 1960s in the United States, the first generation of commercial CAD systems was developed. In the 1970s, CAD systems were still based on minicomputers and were therefore very costly. Nevertheless, these solutions were very primitive, extremely expensive 'electronic drawing boards' by today's standards. The introduction of the IBM PC in 1981 was a breakthrough for personal computers, which had a revolutionary effect on CAD technology. The very next year - 1982 - saw the launch of the first version of AutoCAD, the first CAD program developed for personal computers. Gradually, the new personal computer-based solutions replaced the older technology, while the CAD systems developed both towards increasingly advanced solutions and towards simpler and cheaper programs. The range today is enormous, with functionality and prices that could only be dreamed of in the early 1980s.
CAD is now used wherever technical systems are designed and documented. Manual drawing and design work with paper, pencil and drawing board is virtually non-existent. Anyone who wants to buy a drawing board must turn to the antique trade.
A designer who uses CAD in his work is by definition a CAD designer. Since virtually all design work today is done using CAD, the terms "designer" and "CAD designer" are in practice almost synonymous. The advanced CAD designer is usually an engineer, while vocational training is often sufficient for basic CAD design work.
The efficiency of design and documentation work has increased dramatically with the use of CAD technology. The quality and detail of documentation has improved enormously, leading to cost savings at all stages, from design, through production, to maintenance and decommissioning.
Electrical diagram is a collective term for a number of document types in the documentation of an electrical installation. Perhaps the most prominent of these document types is the circuit diagram, a document showing how an electrical installation works.
A circuit diagram shows in schematic form how desired functions are to be realized by means of products. It shows what is connected to what. Usually the circuit diagram is function-oriented, i.e. it is drawn in such a way that the function is as easy to follow as possible.
A circuit diagram or wiring diagram is the graphical equivalent of a wiring table. It shows exactly how the various products (components) of an electrical structure are to be connected together using wires and cables. The purpose of the wiring diagram is to provide a basis for the electrician's work to connect the installation. The circuit diagram is location-oriented in nature, i.e. it shows how the products are physically connected. However, the function is not so clear.
A layout drawing shows how electrical components are physically mounted, often in an electrical cabinet, a so-called cabinet layout. The layout drawing is usually to scale and more or less detailed. At one extreme, the layout is greatly simplified with simple boxes symbolizing the components. At the other extreme, detailed 3D models and rendering are used so that the cabinet layout looks almost like a photograph of the finished design.
Electrical diagrams of various kinds, such as circuit diagrams, wiring diagrams and single-line diagrams, are drawn with diagram symbols corresponding to products, and lines corresponding to connections between products. There are several national standards for schematic symbols, such as ANSI (American National Standards Institute) from the United States. However, there is only one global standard, the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
IEC60617 is the international standard for circuit diagram symbols. The standard has been valid since the 1980s.
IEC61082 originated in the 1990s and defines, among other things, how text should be placed around symbols and in drawing headers.
IEC81346, originating from the 00s, defines how reference designations (postal designations) should be built up and how installations should be structured.
IEC81714, also originally from the 00s, further develops the principles of IEC617 and IEC1082. It provides guidelines for the design of symbols with text placement and other details specifically for use in CAD systems.
ECLASS (formerly eCl@ss) is the only worldwide classification system for products and services. ECLASS supports the digital exchange of product descriptions ("catalog data") and service descriptions and is defined by IEC 61360 (popularly "IEC1360").
cadett ELSA is a complete CAD software for electrical design based on current industry standards. The software has mainly been developed in Sweden and Germany.
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