Accelerate wiring harness design with automated routing algorithms
Explore how automated routing algorithms untangle the complexities of wiring harness design, effortlessly finding the best routes to accelerate development. With the ability to quickly adapt to ever-changing designs, the routing workflow replaces manual inefficiencies with a flexible and robust solution that results in significant time and cost savings.
Accelerated development speed by 77%
Max. reduced costs along the entire life cycle
Challenge
Navigating the complexities of wiring harness design is a demanding endeavor, especially in sectors like automotive engineering. These components are essential to electronic control systems, transmitting critical data and adhering to strict standards for safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness.
Traditional design techniques are fraught with time-intensive work and potential errors, which not only slow down development but can also result in costly rework and delays.
This manual approach also results in departmental silos and disconnections, making data exchange cumbersome and lacking real-time adaptability.
For example, the routing of wire harnesses through CAD geometries can be particularly challenging. There are a variety of possible paths that can be used to route multiple wires. Geometric obstacles and, of course, the paths of the other wires have to be taken into account, which makes the optimization more complex. All this becomes a particularly challenging task when there are changes to respond to as well. Even minor changes in the vehicle's geometry can necessitate a full rework of the design, consuming more resources and extending lead times.
While some attempts have been made to streamline these challenges - utilizing common part kits and platform structures, for example - they haven’t fully mitigated the issue. For a future-oriented design department, an automated, interconnected solution that is both robust and agile enough to adapt quickly to design changes is urgently needed.
"Synera will help to significantly reduce the effort required for the geometric integration of wiring harnesses. An automated workflow allows for the creation of cable harness designs mostly through machines and enables extremely rapid incorporation of changes."
RLE INTERNATIONAL
The RLE INTERNATIONAL Group is one of the world’s leading development, technology and consultation service providers to the international mobility and service industries. On the basis of their many years of development and methodological expertise, RLE can lay claim to 30 years of experience in devising innovative and effective solutions for our international customers. Over 2.000 employees worldwide constantly keep abreast of technological progress.
Solution
The holistic approach of a digitized development process with automated routing algorithms provides a more systematic approach to the challenges of wire harness design.
Unlike traditional methods that rely heavily on manual measurements and isolated workflows, this approach begins with a comprehensive view of your design requirements.
The workflow initiates by importing an initial design space and electric circuit data, conveniently translated into an Excel list. Based on this foundational data, the first run of the Pathfinder algorithm determines potential start and end points, laying the groundwork for subsequent steps. To increase the robustness of the further steps, the initial design space is now replaced by a simplified geometry. Based on this, our Pathfinder algorithm systematically and through iterative calculations identifies the optimal wire routing paths within the geometry, taking into account geometrical obstacles and designated no-go areas. The final step of the workflow involves cleaning up and exporting the final paths. Thus, in addition to the speed of the automated process, accuracy and consistency are also improved.
What truly sets this approach apart is its open architecture, designed for seamless integration with a range of engineering tools across vendors. This isn’t just about speeding up processes or adopting an automated solution. It is an evolution in workflow agility and an overall enhancement to the development process, making it more flexible and responsive to any design changes. This approach sets a new standard for efficiency and adaptability in your development department.
More about this workflow
Benefits
Enabling a rapid adaptability to design changes
Minimizing human error and rework costs
Seamless integration with multi-vendor engineering tools
Identification of optimal routing paths, not just "working" solutions