Smart Electrical uses symbols to generate single line diagrams. You create these symbols in Catalog Manager. You store the symbol files in the folder that you define in the Default SLD Symbol Path location in Options Manager.
General Guidelines
When generating a single line diagram, Smart Electrical searches for the symbols that match the item type names. Therefore, all the symbol names must match the item type names of the electrical items that you want to include in the SLD. You can, however, save a symbol file under a different name and assign it to an electrical item using the Associate Custom Symbols command from the Actions menu. In this case, the software will use the associated symbol file to represent the electrical item in an SLD.
You have to set an item type for each symbol that you create. Each symbol consists of graphical elements (lines, circles, and so forth), SmartText properties, fixed text (labels), connect points, and an origin point.
Note that you can use all the graphical tools provided in Catalog Manager to create your symbols.
Connect Points
Two types of connect points are used in SLDs:
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Connect Point — for main power connection.
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Auxiliary Point — for creating the logical connection between equipment, metering, and relays.
All symbols must have at least two connect points, apart from some exceptions listed below.
Each connect point consists of a:
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Connection type — Connect point or auxiliary point.
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Connection angle — The angle at which the connection is made between the equipment and the connector.
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Side — A numeric value used to distinguish between the "power in" –1, and the "power out" – 2, sides of the equipment.
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Number — A sequential, unique, index number for the connect point. Each side, within a connection type, starts at number one and progresses in sequential steps.
The upper and lower connect points must have the same X coordinates.
Origin Point
Place the origin point in the middle of the existing or virtual line that connects the upper and lower point.
Special Symbols
The software uses several symbols to represent a transformer in a single line diagram - Transformer symbol and TransformerComponent symbols. You create each symbol separately. However, the origin point of all the symbols has to be placed in such a way that when the software superimpositions all the symbols, it creates a complete representation of a compound transformer.
Use the following properties to create transformer symbols:
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Symbol name — Transformer
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One upper connect point
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Connection angle: 90 degrees (up)
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Index 1
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Symbol name — TransformerComponent0
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One lower connect point
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Connection angle: — 90 degrees (down)
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Index 1
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Symbol name — TransformerComponent1
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One lower connect point
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Connection angle: — 90 degrees (down)
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Index 1
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Symbol name — TransformerComponent2
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One lower connect point
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Connection angle: -90 degrees (down)
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Index 1
Catalog Manager uses the TransformerComponent0 symbol together with the Transformer symbol to create a 2-winding transformer representation.
Catalog Manager uses TransformerComponent1 together with the Transformer and TransformerComponent 2 symbols to create a 3-winding transformer representation.
You can customize the transformer and transformer component symbols in the Options
Manager. For more details, see Define a Transformer Component Symbol in the Options Manager help.
For an example of origin placement in each of the transformer symbols, you can open any of the above mentioned symbol files located in the folder that you define in the Default SLD Symbol Path location in Options Manager.
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Bus symbols:
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Bus — Smart Electrical creates bus representations in SLD automatically. However, you still need to create a bus symbol and set its line type, line width, and define SmartText attributes. The origin point must always be at the left edge of the symbol.
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Smart Electrical uses the above properties to create the bus symbols in single line diagrams. You can create as many bus symbols with different properties as required so that you can generate single line diagrams with various line types and widths. Note that Smart Electrical uses only the symbol properties and not the file itself to represent buses in single line diagrams. After creating bus symbols and defining their properties in Catalog Manager, you can modify the bus properties prior to generating an SLD by associating a different symbol file using the Associate Custom Symbols command from the Actions menu. This way, the software can generate a single line diagram with various bus representations.
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Symbols that represent the connection between two buses in a PDB:
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Horizontal representation — Special symbols are used to show the horizontal connection between two buses and their internals. The two symbols are CircuitBusTieCoupler.sym and CircuitBusTieRiser.sym. All disconnect equipment, cable, or any other item that needs to be displayed in the internals of the bus tie have a specific syntax, <ItemType>BusTie.sym. The software generates the SLD and searches for the BusTie.sym suffixed symbols if in the Single Line Diagram Options dialog the circuit internals have been chosen to be displayed. Note that the BusTie symbol is a ‘circuit' type symbol and has its first connection point on the rightmost side and the second connection point at the leftmost side.
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Vertical representation — The standard bus coupler-riser circuit connection representation that includes both coupler and the riser circuits and displays them as vertical objects, connected to each other. The software displays both circuits as standard arrows.
If you want to have more than one symbol to represent a bus tie, you can create a
custom symbol (for example, MyDisconnectSwitch.sym) and assign it, for example, to
a disconnect switch using a default symbol or custom symbol. Then, create another
custom symbol with the same name plus BusTie (for example, MyDisconnectSwitchBusTie.sym
and arranged horizontally if needed). Place this custom symbol in the SLD symbols
folder. Smart Electrical will use this symbol if you select the Use bus tie symbols check box on the Circuits & Internals tab of the Single Line Diagram Options dialog.
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Other symbols:
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Other special symbols include <ItemType>Alt.sym used to represent equipment that has two sources of power supply, Buswrappingmarker_Right, Buswrappingmarker_Left, and Triangle- Compare .
The connect point numbering sequence for the Alt.sym symbol is always Power out = 2. Positions 1 and 3 are set by the software according
to the position of the power source and the alternative power source on the drawing,
or can be set manually by the user.
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From — This is a system symbol; do not modify it.
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Default (Symbol name = Default) — Smart Electrical uses a default symbol whenever a required symbol for a particular item type does not exist. Default symbols require two connect points. You can select any item type for the Default symbol.
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For information on how to use custom symbols in your SLDs and the SLD legends, see Associate Custom Symbols with Plant Items.
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For information on how to place connect points in a symbol in Catalog Manager, see Place Symbol Connect Points.
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A list of all shipped symbols and their SmartText attributes is available in the symbols.txt file located in the folder that you define in the Default SLD Symbol Path location in Options Manager.
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Smart Electrical shipped data includes two sets of transformer symbol files. The IEC set includes:
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TransformerIEC
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TransformerComponent0IEC
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TransformerComponent1IEC
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TransformerComponent2IEC
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The NEC set includes:
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TransformerNEC
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TransformerComponent0NEC
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TransformerComponent1NEC
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TransformerComponent2NEC
Because the software uses the Transformer, TransformerComponent0, TransformerComponent1, and TransformerComponent2 symbols by default, you have to replace this set with the NEC or IEC symbols and rename them without their IEC or NEC suffixes if you want to use symbols belonging to another standard.
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The following limitations of SLD symbol creation exist in Catalog Manager:
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On the Smart Text Editor dialog, you cannot use the Visible, Short Text, and Format features.
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The angles for the symbol connect points are fixed at 90 degrees for the top connect point and -90 degrees for the bottom connect point.
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There is no support of symbol properties in the Properties window except for the selection of item types.
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The software does not retain the assigned smart text labels if you change the item type of a symbol for which smart text labels have been created.
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In order for the software to rescale all the items correctly, make sure that when
creating symbols that contain text or smart text, the Units space property is set to World. Note the World is not the default setting for this property.